COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Departments: Costs

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost was of establishing the predecessor to her Department the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Angela Smith: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) was created following the Machinery of Government changes on 29 May 2002. No additional public expenditure would have been incurred as a consequence of establishing the ODPM. Any costs, such as relocation of incoming staff from other Departments' buildings and changes to signage and stationery, would have been met from existing budgets. A breakdown of such costs by cost area is not available.

Part-time Employment: Females

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps the Government are taking to increase the availability of high quality part-time work for women.

Meg Munn: holding answer 8 May 2007
	The Government are working closely with employers from both the public and private sector to open up more quality jobs on a part-time basis. On 2 April we announced the projects awarded funding from a £500,000 quality part-time work initiative. This is a new initiative by Communities and Local Government which is designed to support projects across the UK that increase the number of senior and quality jobs that are available part-time.
	The 13 successful projects include transforming big organisations, working with young people to create awareness of quality part-time working, setting up a national job-share register, and opening up part-time opportunities for senior women investigators in the police force. All projects are required to have good arrangements for disseminating the lessons learned to other employers and we believe they can have a real impact.

Playgrounds

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent on the  (a) installation and  (b) maintenance of (i) rubberised surfaces and (ii) loose fill surfaces in public playgrounds in each year since 1997.

Phil Woolas: The information requested is not held centrally.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Betting Shops

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many representations her Department received on the Gambling Commission and local authority fees for betting shops in  (a) 2005,  (b) 2006 and  (c) 2007; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: The formal responses to the consultation exercises relating to implementation of the licence fees under the Gambling Act 2005 and associated follow-up queries were as follows:
	
		
			   2005  2006  2007 
			 Gambling Commission 0 235 6 
			 Licensing authorities 0 0 36 
			 Totals 0 235 42 
		
	
	We also had a number of meetings with betting shop representatives including with the Association of British Bookmakers.

Departments: India

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which Ministers in her Department have visited India in the last 12 months; on how many occasions each Minister visited India; and what the length was of each visit.

Tessa Jowell: The Government publish an annual list of Cabinet Ministers' travel overseas costing over £500 along with the total cost of all ministerial travel. Information for 2005-06 was published on 24 July 2006 and is available in the Library of the House. Information for 2006-07 will be published as soon as it is ready.
	All travel is in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.
	A detailed list of visits by all UK Ministers to India since 2003 can be found on the British high commission website at:
	http:/www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1038154781863

Gaming Machines

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 25 April 2007,  Official Report, columns 1119-20W, on gaming machines, what the critical milestones are for finalising the testing regime for ensuring that gaming machines comply with the technical standards required under the Gambling Act 2005.

Richard Caborn: The testing regime is the subject of ongoing discussions between the Gambling Commission and the industry, test houses and other stakeholders. The Gambling Commission will publish final machine technical standards by 1 June 2007. At the same time, it intends to publish its high-level approach to the testing of gaming machines. Detailed process requirements will be developed with the industry and test houses beyond this date.

National Lottery: Arts Council of Wales

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  how much the Arts Council of Wales received from the National Lottery in 2006; and how much it is expected to receive in 2007;
	(2)  what the investment returns were for the Arts Council of Wales from National Lottery funding  (a) in August 2006 and  (b) in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Richard Caborn: The following table shows the Arts Council of Wales income from the National Lottery Distribution Fund for the financial years 2005-06 and 2006-07; for August 2006 alone, and estimated figures, based on the Department's latest income projections, for 2007-08.
	
		
			  Arts Council of Wales 
			  £ 
			   Operated related income( 1)  Investment Income( 1)  Total Income( 1) 
			 Entire financial year 2005-06 11,532,000 931,000 12,463,000 
			 August 2006 970,000 58,000 1,028,000 
			 Entire financial year 2006-07 10,046,000 745,000 10,791,000 
			 Financial Year 2007-08(2) 10,288,000 783,000 11,071,000 
			 (1 )To the nearest £1,000 (2 )Estimated

National Lottery: Arts Council of Wales

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much National Lottery-funded money is yet to be allocated by the Arts Council of Wales; and what that figure was in August 2006.

Richard Caborn: The Arts Council of Wales provides my Department with data on the level of unpaid commitments at the final day of each quarter of the financial year. The closest figure to August 2006 that we have available is September 2006.
	On 30 September 2006 the Arts Council of Wales balance in the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF) was £18,501,937. Its forward commitments including both contractually binding and "in principle" commitments totalled £22,309,580. It was therefore overcommitted on its NLDF balance by £3,807,643.
	On 31 March 2007 the Arts Council of Wales balance was £16,625,562. Its forward commitments, including both contractually binding and "in principle" commitments totalled £18,001,516. It was therefore overcommitted by £1,375,954.

Olympic Games: Greater London

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what events in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held outside London.

Richard Caborn: The 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will see several events held outside London.
	The football tournament will include games in Glasgow, Cardiff, Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham. The sailing will be in Weymouth and Portland; rowing will be in Eton Dorney; whitewater canoeing will be in Broxbourne (Hertfordshire) and mountain biking in Weald Country Park (Essex).
	In addition, the Cultural Olympiad will take place across the UK, with events and festivals outside London over the four years up to and including 2012. The 2012 Torch Relays are likely to involve many major cities and towns throughout the UK in the run up to the 2012 Games. The route for the Torch Relays will be devised in order to maximise the opportunities for as much of the UK population to be involved as possible.
	Communities can also benefit from hosting sports events or pre-Games training camps for overseas teams in the run up to the Games.
	The London 2012 website includes further details of venues:
	http://www.london2012.org/en/ourvision/sport+and+venue+information/list+of+all+venues/

Olympic Games: Greater London

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of construction training programmes set up to ensure adequate numbers of skilled contractors to work on the construction stages of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Phil Hope: I have been asked to reply.
	ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry has developed the ConstructionSkills Network, a cross country alliance to provide the industry with a comprehensive model for forecasting capacity, productivity and skills to help employers and others plan for the impact of future trends on the construction workforce. Details of the numbers of people and the roles they will fulfil in the Olympics and Paralympics and other major projects such as the Thames Gateway are currently being refined and as plans are finalised for planned developments so the Network will be able to produce more accurate figures.
	The newly established National Skills Academy for Construction (NSA) will support work-based learning centres for major construction projects including Olympics and Paralympics projects. This work-based learning approach will enable employers more easily to train local people. In Greater London 26 quality training providers have joined in partnership with the National Skills Academy in order to meet the customised needs of employers.
	In addressing the skills needs of the Olympics and other major projects in London and the South East of England ConstructionSkills has set the following targets.
	To deliver a NSA base on every Olympic project.
	To deliver over 4,500 apprenticeships by 2012.
	To provide specialised training at the National Construction College for Plant Operators and other identified skills gaps.
	Using both On Site Assessment and Training (OSAT) and the Experienced Worker Practical Assessment (EWPA) programmes to deliver over 33,000 people qualified by 2012.

Sports: Sponsorship

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidelines her Department has issued to national sports governing bodies on the sponsorship of sports events and competitions involving children by commercial organisations.

Richard Caborn: Neither the Department nor Sport England provide specific guidance to governing bodies on the sponsorship of sports events and competitions involving children by commercial organisations.

Sports: Sponsorship

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her Department's policy is on the sponsorship of sports events and competitions involving children by commercial organisations that produce food and drink products that are high in fat, salt and sugar.

Richard Caborn: Neither my Department nor Sport England provide specific guidance on the sponsorship of sports events and competitions involving children by commercial organisations.
	However, the Public Health White Paper "Choosing Health", published in November 2004, sets out the Government's commitment to help people lead healthier and more active lives. In particular, my Department shares with the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills a Public Service Agreement target to
	"halt the year-on-year increase in obesity among children under 11 by 2010, in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole".
	In line with its corporate social responsibility, the food industry is an important partner in our cross-Government programme of work to achieve this.

World Heritage Sites

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the applications from the UK which are under consideration for the status of World Heritage Site; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: The current UK nominations being considered by UNESCO for World Heritage inscription are Darwin at Downe, which will be considered by the World Heritage Committee in June 2007 and The Antonine Wall, which will be considered in summer 2008.
	In addition, on 10 October 2006, I announced that Pontcysyllte Aqueduct would be nominated in 2008 for consideration in 2009 and the twin Monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow would be nominated in 2009 for consideration in 2010.
	Excluding the sites named above, 13 sites remain on the UK's Tentative List and some 46 sites, including Colchester, have expressed their interest in being considered for inclusion on a possible revised List.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Mass Media

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance he has issued on the making of statements to the media on policy matters by spouses of military members of the Army Board.

Des Browne: holding answer 26 April 2007
	 No guidance has been issued to the spouses of military members of the Army Board.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what methods other than financial incentives are being used to improve recruitment and retention in the armed forces.

Derek Twigg: All three services undertake numerous and varied initiatives, both at national and local level, aimed at sustaining and increasing the level of recruitment to the armed forces. Included among the many current initiatives are:
	The use of multi-media advertising campaigns.
	Services' recruiting teams' attendance at schools, careers fairs and graduate recruitment seminars, road shows, exhibitions, youth clubs and organisations.
	Specialist teams to attract doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers and padres by promoting service careers within specialist recruitment shows and through professional bodies.
	Work experience placements within service establishments.
	Personal development courses and look at life courses for young people who express an interest in the armed forces.
	Taster day visits to HM ships and service establishments.
	A dedicated careers website for each of the services complete with a dedicated information support call centre.
	An Army 'on-line' recruiting office, with plans for this to be replicated by the other services.
	Specialist ethnic minority recruiting and diversity action teams aimed at promoting Armed forces careers among the UK's ethnic minority and faith communities.
	A partnership with Jobcentre Plus, making use of its network (totalling in excess of 1,100) of local outlets. As a measurement of the success of this partnership, in financial year 2005-06 some 1,200 referrals went on to become enlistments.
	Taken across the armed forces, retention is generally satisfactory. Nevertheless in some areas, exit rates are still too high and require us to work hard at retaining people in these areas. Retention measures such as:
	Initiatives to improve work/life balance include proposals such as allowing personnel to work flexibly where it is operationally possible to do so and where personnel have reached a certain stage in their careers.
	Within the naval services, the re-balancing lives initiative (RBL) seeks to improve the work/life balance of our people.
	The future Army structure will lengthen tour intervals, improve career development and effectiveness of our soldiers and, with more robust structures, the quality of life for them and their families. The whole Army will be on a system of individual postings, which together with other linked initiatives will improve stability for Army personnel and their families.
	The RAF continues to explore the scope to allow greater employment flexibility and achievement of work/life balance aspirations, which might help improve the recruitment and retention of its personnel, including: flexible working hours, job share, career breaks, sabbaticals and secondments, greater family stability. Recent improvements have been made to the operational welfare package, the aim of which is to maintain the strength and morale of service personnel in order to optimise and maintain effectiveness. It does so by providing support for the physical and emotional well-being of service personnel deployed on operations. Recent improvements to the package include an increase in the free weekly telephone calls from 20 to 30 minutes and a tax bonus. Other benefits of the package include free e-mails facility, free "blueys" (mail), free packages from families to personnel of up to 2 kg over the Christmas period and up to 14 days rest and recuperation break during a six month tour.

Armed Forces: Secondments

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how long members of the armed forces are seconded to the households of non-ministerial members of the Army Board.

Derek Twigg: Postings conform to normal Army rules and vary in length depending on circumstances. The normal tour length for chefs is three years, and for other posts is two years.

Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many servicemen and women were waiting for treatment by the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court, Surrey on 16 April.

Derek Twigg: The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) at Headley Court offers a range of in-patient rehabilitation services and is the base for the Defence Medical Services' Rheumatology and Rehabilitation (R&R) consultants. Broadly, three categories of patient attend DMRC:
	Patients requiring immediate assessment and treatment, often from overseas locations, who can be seen by DMRC without prior hospital treatment. Patients are admitted directly with no waiting time.
	Patients with complex rehabilitation requirements following hospital treatment for trauma or other physical injuries. Such patients include the operational casualties typically treated in NHS hospitals in Birmingham. The care pathways for these patients are planned to ensure that they come to DMRC at the most appropriate time in their clinical treatment, with the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Evaluation and Coordination Cell at Headley Court coordinating the case management of these patients. There is no waiting list for such patients—in other words, there are no such patients who ought to have started their treatment at Headley Court but who have been delayed in doing so because of any capacity limits at DMRC.
	Patients for routine assessment and treatment are referred directly to the R&R consultants or via our Regional Rehabilitation Units. The consultants offer appointments depending on clinical need, the availability of the patient and the start date of suitable courses of therapy for the patient's condition. Most patients in this category will be seen within six weeks of being referred to DMRC.

Defence Medical Service

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's expenditure was on  (a) the Defence Medical Service and  (b) each cadre of the Defence Medical Service in each of the last five years.

Derek Twigg: The information is currently being collated. I will write to the hon. Member when this has been completed, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Departments: Horses

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on polo ponies in each of the last five years.

Derek Twigg: The MOD does not own any polo ponies.

Departments: Internet

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for which Government websites he is responsible; how many visitors each received in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the cost  (a) was of establishing and  (b) has been of maintaining each site.

Derek Twigg: The Ministry of Defence and armed forces collectively maintain four corporate websites. Direct expenditure on these and the number of page views that each site received in the financial year 2006-07 were as follows:
	
		
			  Website  URL  Annual expenditure  Unique page views per annum 
			 Ministry of Defence http://www.mod.uk/ £177,875 17.6 million 
			 Royal Navy http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/ £178,398 36.7 million 
			 British Army http://www.army.mod.uk £160,000 52.3 million 
			 Royal Air Force http://www.raf.mod.uk/ £126,860.90 Visits—8,000 
			Hits—27,964,736 
		
	
	The following websites are maintained by business units within MOD. We have embarked on a programme of rationalising content from these sites into the four corporate sites and expect to see a significant reduction in the number of sites over the next two years. This list does not include sites created and maintained by individual units or regiments.
	
		
			  Website  URL  Annual expenditure  Unique page views per annum 
			 Army Jobs http://www.armyjobs.mod.uk/ Not available 12.3 million 
			 British Forces Post Office http://www .bfpo.mod.uk/ No hosting fees, £2,500 for in-house maintenance 1,168,000 
			 UK Defence Standardization http://www.dstan.mod.uk/ £44,000 2.1 million 
			 Chief Scientific Advisor http://www.science.mod.uk/ £1,000 Not available 
			 Service Personnel and Veterans Agency http://www.veterans-uk.info/ £56,826 Visits—566,910 
			Page views—2,724,268 
			 Acquisition Safety and Environmental Management System http://www.asems.mod.uk/ £1,000 Not available 
			 Central Data Management Authority http://www.cdma.mod.uk/ 1,500 Not known 
			 Defence Analytical Services Agency http://www.dasa.mod.uk/ £17,500 Not recorded 
			 Defence Schools Presentation Team http://www.schools.mod.uk/ £2,000 81,800 sessions 
			 The 'We Were There Exhibition' Website http://www.wewerethere.mod.uk/ £2,000 56,112 sessions 
			 Defence Image Database http://www.defenceimagedatabase.mod.uk/ £7,990 791,325 
			 Defence Export Services Organisation http://www.deso.mod.uk/ £37,000 4,716 unique visitors 
			 Royal Navy Community Website http://www.rncom.mod.uk/ £4,712 11.7 million 
			 Defence Storage and Distribution Agency www.dsda.org.uk/index.htm £300 (hosting cost only) 8,568 
			 MOD Procurement Portal http://www.contracts.mod.uk/ Website provided as part of requirement for the publication and distribution of the MOD Defence Contracts Bulletin and associated services Included in overall contract separate figure for website not available 203,314 visits 1,222,427 page impressions 
			 Defence Academy www.da.mod.uk/DefenceAcademy 32 sites under this banner, 6 represent major colleges. Remainder special-purpose vehicles for course support etc. £18,000 5.22 million 
			 Defence Aviation Safety Centre www.dasc.mod.uk/ £1,000 Not available 
			 Defence Bills Agency www.defencebills.gov.uk/ £240 (hosting only) Not available 
			 Defence Science and Technology Laboratory www.dstl.gov.uk/ Unable to provide at present 580,696 
			 Disposal Services Agency www.disposalservices.agency.mod.uk/ Unavailable 750,000 session 5 million page views 
			 ABRO www.abro.mod.uk/ £1,250 320,000 unique page views 
			 Meteorological Office http://www.metoffice.com/ £450,000 annual costs. £360,000 upgrade costs 327 million hits, 36 million visitors 
			 UK Hydrographic Office http://www.ukho.gov.uk/ £162,600—For this financial year 384,000 
			 Defence Aviation Repair Agency http://www.daranet.co.uk/ Not available 13,260 
			 Competition of Ideas http://www.ideas.mod.uk/ £40,000 Not available 
			 Defence Engineering and Science Group http://www.desg.mod.uk/ £300 (hosting cost only) 210,000 (from October 2006 to May 2007) 
			 Grand Challenge www.challenge.mod.uk £2,000 (full year est) 72,000 (from November 2006-May 2007) 
		
	
	Current Information was unavailable for the following websites—2005-06 figures have been provided:
	
		
			  Website  URL  Annual expenditure  Unique page views per annum 
			 Defence Estates http://www.defence-estates.mod.uk/ £32,500 450,000 
			 Joint Air Transport Evaluation Unit http://www.jateu.mod.uk/ £3,000 Not available 
			 UK National Codification Bureau http://www.ncb.mod.uk/ £32,000 None available 
			 Permanent Joint Headquarters http://www.northwood.mod.uk/ £3,000 34,800

Departments: Pressure Groups

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what meetings took place between Ministers in his Department and outside interest groups between 1 January and 31 March; and what the date was of each such meeting.

Derek Twigg: Between 1 January 2007 and 31 March 2007 Defence Ministers met with outside interest groups on the following occasions:
	 Secretary of State for Defence
	10 January—Meeting with a representative from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers to discuss human rights issues in Columbia.
	6 March—Meeting with a representative of the National Employers Advisory Board to discuss issues relating to Volunteer Reservists.
	7 March—Meeting with a representative from the Transport and General Workers Union to discuss the Defence Diversification Agency.
	 Minister for Defence Procurement (from 6 March, Minister of State for Defence Equipment and Support)
	16 January—Meeting with representatives from NUMIS to provide an update on the Defence Industrial Strategy.
	16 January—Meeting of the National Defence Industry Council.
	7 March—The Minister was present at the Secretary of State's meeting with the Transport and General Workers Union.
	27 March—Meeting of the National Defence Industry Council.
	28 March—Meeting with Clyde shop stewards to discuss shipbuilding.
	 Under- Secretary of State
	9 January—Meeting with representatives from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
	9 January—Meeting with representatives from the Armed Forces Memorial Project to discuss progress with the Memorial.
	18 January—Meeting with a representative from the Army Benevolent Fund.
	7 February—Meeting with a representative from the Bevin Boys to discuss recognition of the Bevin Boys.
	19 February—Meeting with representatives from the War Widows Association.
	21 February—Meeting with representatives from the Armed Forces Committee of the British Medical Association.
	21 February—Meeting with a representative from Combat Stress.
	27 February—Meeting with a representative from the Armed Force Parliamentary Scheme.
	28 February—Meeting with a representative from the British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association.
	6 March—Meeting with a representative from the Merchant Navy Association.
	8 March—Meeting with a representative from the Merchant Mariners.
	13 March—Meeting with a representative from Armed Forces Memorial Project.
	21 March—Meeting with a representative from the Depleted Uranium Oversight Board.

Iraq: Peace Keeping Operations

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have worked in field hospitals during Operation Telic; and what percentage of the total number were reservist medical personnel.

Derek Twigg: From the start of Op Telic in January 2003 to Operation Telic 9 at the end of April 2007, 2,887 individual medical specialist and non-medical support personnel have served in field hospitals in Iraq, of which some 43 per cent were reservists.
	The number of service personnel who have worked in Operation Telic field hospitals is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  (a) Serial  (b) Tour(5)  (c) Unit  (d) Total( 1)  (e) Reservists( 2)  (f) Percentage reservist 
			 1 Op Telic (and Op Telic 2)(3) 22 Fd Hosp 90 0 0 
			 2 Op Telic (and Op Telic 2)(3) 33 Fd Hosp 560 4 1 
			 3 Op Telic (and Op Telic 2)(3) 34 Fd Hosp 650 275 42 
			 4 Op Telic (and Op Telic 2)(3) 202 Fd Hosp 680 523 77 
			   
			 5 Op Telic 3(4) Hosp Sqn 22 Fd Hosp 120 44 37 
			   
			 6 Op Telic 4(4) Hosp Sqn 207 Fd Hosp 127 117 92 
			 7 Op Telic 4a(4) Hosp Sqn 256 Fd Hosp 127 108 85 
			 8 Op Telic 5(4) Hosp Sqn 33 Fd Hosp 116 37 32 
			 9 Op Telic 6(4) Hosp Sqn 205 Fd Hosp 119 92 77 
			 10 Op Telic 7(4) Hosp Sqn 34 Fd Hosp 112 26 23 
			 11 Op Telic 8(4) RAF Composite Hosp Sqn 96 3 3 
			 12 Op Telic 9(4) Hosp Sqn 33 Fd Hosp 90 8 9 
			   Total 2,887 1,237 43 
			 (1) Includes personnel from all services (regular and reserve). (2) Includes Reservists from RN, Army and RAF, but take no account of tour length or multiple tours by individuals. (3) Availability of data for Telic 1 and 2 are limited. These figures are based on information supplied by personnel serving in the Command Team of the units at the time. This information has been provided on a 'best estimate' basis. (4) The Op Telic numbering system relates to a period of time, which is approximately 6 months. (5 )Includes total liability of the Op Telic Hospital Sqn only and does not include other elms of UK Med Gp.

Iraq: Peace Keeping Operations

Michael Mates: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many incidents of friendly fire have occurred since the coalition forces invaded Iraq in 2003.

Des Browne: holding answer 27 March 2007
	 The number of friendly fire incidents in Iraq since 2003 is not held centrally. Friendly fire incidents could be Multinational Forces (MNF) on MNF, MNF on Iraqi Security Force (ISF) or ISF on MNF. Recorded instances of these incidents could only be aggregated from individual records, some of which we would have to request from coalition partners and the Iraqi security forces. This could only be done at disproportionate cost.
	However, eight UK service personnel have died as a result of actual or suspected friendly fire incidents in Iraq since the start of Operation Telic.

Royal Military Academy: Health Services

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many presentations were made to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst by private health providers between March 2006 and March 2007.

Derek Twigg: Three presentations were made by BUPA: one to each new intake to the Regular Commissioning Course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, in May 2006, September 2006 and January 2007.

Terrorism: Birmingham

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether an individual in his Department was responsible for the advance briefing given to the  Daily Mirror newspaper in relation to the operation in Birmingham on 31 January by counter-terrorism officers of the West Midlands police.

Des Browne: holding answer 2 May 2007
	No.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Departments: Computers

John Spellar: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what  (a) instructions are issued to staff in his Department and  (b) technical procedures are in place to shut down computers at night.

John Prescott: My Office is based in a Cabinet Office building, and I therefore refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster, North (Edward Miliband) on 27 April 2007,  Official Report, column 1329W.

Departments: India

Oliver Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on how many occasions he visited India in each of the last 12 months; and what the length was of each visit.

John Prescott: This Government publish an annual list of Cabinet Ministers' travel overseas costing over £500 along with the total cost of all ministerial travel. Information for 2005-06 was published on 24 July 2006 and is available in the Library for the reference of Members. Information for 2006-07 will be published as soon as it is ready.
	All travel is in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.

Departments: Internet

Theresa May: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister for which Government websites he is responsible; how many visitors each received in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the cost  (a) was of establishing and  (b) has been of maintaining each site.

John Prescott: Subsequent to my answer to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 14 December 2006,  Official Report , column 1304W, in the period January to April 2007 my Department's website recorded 18,179 separate visits and 39,311 page views.
	For details of costs, I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 4 September 2006,  Official Report , column 1721W.

Departments: Sexual Harassment

David Simpson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many complaints of sexual harassment have been investigated in his Department in the last 12 months; and how many complaints have been upheld.

John Prescott: No complaints have been made.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Delivery Unit

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what role the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit will play in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.

Hilary Armstrong: In the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007, the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit is supporting Her Majesty's Treasury to develop a practical performance monitoring and management system for new PSA targets.

Delivery Unit

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 
	(1)  if she will place in the Library a copy of the organisational chart for the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit;
	(2)  if she will place in the Library a copy of each of the last 10 reports produced by the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit.

Hilary Armstrong: Organisationally, the Unit is headed by Ian Watmore at Permanent Secretary level; three Directors lead on Education and Health, Crime and Justice, and Asylum and Migration and other projects.
	The Prime Minister's Delivery Unit's reports comprise confidential policy advice to the Prime Minister and Ministers, and are not published.

Delivery Unit

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what funding has been allocated to the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit for 2007-08.

Hilary Armstrong: Funding details for the financial year 2007-08 are in the process of being finalised. Funding for 2006-07 is set out in the Cabinet Office annual report, to be published later this month.

Departments: Disclosure of Information

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the date was of each leak inquiry initiated by the Cabinet Office since 1997; which Department was concerned in each case; and what leak was being investigated in each case.

Hilary Armstrong: Individual Departments are responsible for initiating leak inquiries relating to material from within their own Departments. The Cabinet Office has conducted 15 leak inquiries since May 1997. It has been the practice of successive Governments not to comment on the subject matter of leak inquiries, which might reveal specific techniques or information that could jeopardise future investigations.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Adult Education: Copeland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many adult learners were studying vocational courses in Copeland in 2005-06.

Bill Rammell: The available figures for numbers of adult learners participating in Further Education in England funded by the Learning and Skills Council are shown in the following table. These figures show the numbers by sector subject Area and provided an indication of the numbers on vocational and non-vocational courses. Learners undertake a wide range of courses and it is difficult to classify all courses as either vocational or non-vocational.
	
		
			  Number of adult learners (Aged 19 and Over) from Copeland parliamentary constituency( 1 ) participating in  F urther  E ducation  c ourses in England funded by the Learning and Skills Council by sector subject area for the academic year 2005/06 
			  Sector subject areas  Number of learners 
			 Health, Public Services and Care 550 
			 Science and Mathematics 40 
			 Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care 10 
			 Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies 60 
			 Construction, Planning and the Built Environment 50 
			 Information and Communication Technology 400 
			 Retail and Commercial Enterprise 140 
			 Leisure, Travel and Tourism 30 
			 Arts, Media and Publishing 40 
			 History, Philosophy and Theology 40 
			 Social Sciences 0 
			 Languages, Literature and Culture 20 
			 Education and Training 30 
			 Preparation for Life and Work 410 
			 Business, Administration and Law 120 
			 (1 )Based on learner's home postcode 
		
	
	The available figures on the numbers of entrants to undergraduate courses at Higher Education Institutions are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of entrants to undergraduate courses from Copeland parliamentary constituency( 1 ) by age and subject area UK  H igher  Education I nstitutions academic year 2005/06 
			   Age 
			  Subject area  Under 21  21 and Over( 3)  Total 
			 Medicine and Dentistry 0 0 5 
			 Subjects allied to Medicine 30 125 155 
			 Biological Sciences 25 20 40 
			 Veterinary Science 0 0 0 
			 Agriculture and related subjects 5 10 15 
			 Physical Sciences 20 10 30 
			 Mathematical Sciences 5 5 10 
			 Computer Science 25 40 65 
			 Engineering and Technology 30 15 45 
			 Architecture, Building and Planning 5 5 5 
			 Social Studies 35 50 85 
			 Law 10 5 15 
			 Business and Administrative Studies 35 45 80 
			 Mass Communications and Documentation 10 0 10 
			 Languages 15 10 25 
			 Historical and Philosophical Studies 20 20 45 
			 Creative Arts and Design 20 35 55 
			 Education 30 25 55 
			 Combined 30 25 60 
			 Total 355 445 800 
			 (1 )Based on the student's home postcode. (2 )Subject areas are based on the JACS subject classification. (3 )Students aged 21 and over are classed as mature students; there is no definition specifically for adult  Notes: The figures are based on the HESA Standard Registration Population. The figures are rounded to the nearest five students and the totals may not be equal to the sum of constituent parts.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Asperger's Syndrome

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome have statements of special educational needs.

Parmjit Dhanda: The available information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Maintained primary, secondary and all special schools ( 1) : Number and percentage of pupils with autistic spectrum disorder who have a statement of SEN ( 2,3)( ) As at January 2007 (Provisional)—England 
			   Number ( 5) Percentage 
			 Primary Schools (4) 11,560 18.8 
			 Secondary Schools (4) 7,990 11.5 
			 All Special Schools (1) 12,380 14.2 
			 Total 31,930 14.6 
			 (1) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes General Hospital Schools. (2) Pupils with statements of SEN provided information on their primary need and, if appropriate, their secondary need. Information on primary need only is given here. (3) Excludes dually registered pupils. (4) Includes middle schools as deemed. (5) Number of pupils by their main need expressed as a percentage of all pupils with statements of SEN.  Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.  Source:  School Census 
		
	
	The Department collects information on pupils' primary and, if appropriate, their secondary need. Asperger's syndrome falls within the category of Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Asperger's Syndrome

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which local education authorities in England have specialist units for Asperger's syndrome.

Parmjit Dhanda: The information requested is not collected centrally.
	The Department collects, via School Census, the number of schools which have special units or resourced provision. It does not, however, ask schools to specify what the area of support is. Provisional 2007 data show that there are 1,558 schools in England with a special unit or resourced provision with 21,130 pupils attending such units.
	The way in which provision is organised is a matter for individual local authorities and their schools to determine in the light of local needs, priorities and resources. Similarly, decisions on which pupils should attend any such units are for the schools and local authorities to make, in the light of their individual needs and parental wishes and any special educational provision as specified in a statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN).

Children in Care: Peterborough

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many looked after children there were in the Peterborough city council area in each year since 1997.

Parmjit Dhanda: The number of children who were looked after by the local authority of Peterborough since 1996-97 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Children looked after at 31 March by the local authority of Peterborough, 1997-2006( 1,2,3,4,5)  England 
			   Number 
			   At 31 March : 
			   1997( 1)  1998( 2)  1999( 2)  2000( 2)  2001( 2)  2002( 2)  2003( 2)  2004( 1)  2005( 1)  2006( 1) 
			 All children looked after by the local authority of Peterborough (3,4,5) 335 350 360 390 355 335 325 335 375 365 
			 (1) Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which in 1996-97 and since 2003-04 cover all children looked after. (2) Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which between 1997-98 and 2002-03 only covered one-third sample. (3) Figures at local authority level have been rounded to the nearest 5. (4) Historical data may differ from older publications. This is mainly due to the implementation of amendments and corrections sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials. (5) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements.

Class Sizes: Copeland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class sizes in Copeland  (a) primary schools and  (b) secondary schools were in financial year (i) 1996-97 and (ii) 2006-07.

Jim Knight: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Maintained primary and secondary schools ( 1) : average class size ( 2) 1997 and 2006, p osition in January each year 
			   Copeland parliamentary constituency  England 
			   Primary  Secondary  Primary  Secondary 
			 1997 26.2 21.2 27.5 21.7 
			 2006 25.5 20.5 26.3 21.5 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Classes taught by one teacher during a single selected period on the Census day in January.  Source:  School Census

Departmental Publications

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will publish the report commissioned by his Department entitled, "Getting It. Getting It Right"; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Department published "Getting It. Getting It Right", a priority review on black pupil exclusions on 2 March 2007. The report is available in the House of Commons Library and at
	www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ethnicminorities.

Diplomas for England

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Diplomas for England are recognised by universities and colleges as entry qualifications; and whether agreement has been reached with those institutions.

Jim Knight: All Diplomas at Level 3 are being designed to give progression routes into Higher Education including Honours Degrees. Higher Education Institutions are members of the Diploma Development Partnerships developing the qualifications and are participating in the Local Consortiums which will be delivering the Diplomas. Four champions have agreed to promote the Diplomas, two from the HE sector. Deian Hopkin, Vice Chancellor, London South Bank University and Michael Arthur, Vice Chancellor, Leeds University are working to raise awareness and improve understanding of the reforms across the HE sector.
	A Higher Education Engagement Project Board with representation from each of the university groupings within the HE sector and FE has been set up to promote an understanding of the 14-19 reforms and to encourage the HE and FE sector to become involved in Diplomas. Diplomas have received "in principle" support from most HEIs. We do not expect HEIs to confirm their support until they have had the opportunity to see the content of the Diplomas in detail. The Board is also supporting a number of projects to map the Level 3 Diploma curriculums against degree courses and to illustrate progression pathways as well as working with UCAS to determine an appropriate point score.

English Language

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people are on the waiting list for English for Speakers of Other Languages in  (a) England and  (b) each London borough.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 16 April 2007
	The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is not required to collect waiting list data, and as such does not ask that all providers maintain such lists. Some providers will maintain their own lists and local LSC partnership and regional LSC teams sometimes review these individual lists. We are therefore unable to provide the number of people on waiting lists nationally.
	Anecdotal evidence, further supported by the recent Race Equality Impact Assessment, indicates that waiting lists in parts of the country are as much as two years in London and 18 months elsewhere.

Further Education: Construction

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Learning and Skills Council has to work with the Building Research Establishment on a methodology for the environmental assessment of capital development projects in the further education sector; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 8 May 2007
	The Learning and Skills Council and Building Research Establishment (BRE) have recently agreed proposals for BRE to develop a dedicated Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) which will simplify the basis upon which FE colleges can obtain environmental assessments for their capital projects. These new arrangements should be operational by the early autumn. Colleges will be able to use BREEAM rather than commissioning individual assessments, which will bring the assessment cost down significantly from an average of £25,000 to £23,000 per project.

GCE A Level

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average A-level points score per pupil was for 11 to 18 years schools with sixth forms containing  (a) 50 or fewer,  (b) 51 to 100,  (c) 101 to 150,  (d) 151 to 200,  (e) 201 to 250 and  (f) more than 250 pupils in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Jim Knight: The information requested is in the following table.
	
		
			  Average GCE/VCE A-Level and equivalent points score per pupil( 1)  by size of sixth form in England 
			  Number  of s tudents in  s ixth  f orm  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06( 2) 
			 50 or fewer 200 205 571 
			 51 to 100 257 258 704 
			 101 to 150 301 305 791 
			 151 to 200 304 311 808 
			 201 to 250 307 318 825 
			 More than 250 298 316 847 
			 (1) 16-18 year olds. (2) The point scoring system changed in 2005-06, i.e. figures for 2005-06 are not comparable to previous years.

GCSE: Standards

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools have more than 50 per cent. of pupils receiving free school meals; and how many and what proportion of pupils in those schools did not achieve  (a) five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and mathematics,  (b) five A* to G grades at GCSE and  (c) any GCSEs in the last school year for which figures are available.

Jim Knight: In 2005/06, 181 schools had more than 50 per cent. of pupils receiving free school meals. The figures(1,2) requested for these schools are given in the following table.
	(1) Includes those schools with results published in the Achievement and Attainment tables.
	(2) Includes all maintained schools. Independent schools are not included as this data is not readily available.
	
		
			   Number  Percentage 
			 Pupils(1) not achieving 5 A*-C grades at GCSE(2) including English and Mathematics GCSE 10,341 74.9 
			 Pupils(1) not achieving 5 A*-G grades at GCSE(2) or equivalent 2,894 21.0 
			 Pupils(1) not achieving any qualification 837 6.1 
			 (1) Pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. (2) Includes GCSEs and equivalent.

International Education Strategy

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will report recent progress on the implementation proposals for the International Education strategy.

Bill Rammell: Implementation of the International Education Strategy is ongoing and there has been progress recently on a number of fronts. For example, building on the success of the first phase of the Prime Minister's Initiative (PMI) to increase student numbers by 75,000 (which was exceeded ahead of schedule), the Prime Minister last year launched a second phase with even more stretching targets to be achieved by 2011. These include an increase of a further 100,000 international students, to double the number of countries sending more than 10,000 students p.a. to the UK and to see a demonstrable improvement to student satisfaction ratings in the UK.
	We are also making progress against our objectives in multilateral forums. Within the European Union, for example, we are working with other member states and the Commission to develop the role of education and skills in achieving the Lisbon goals of jobs and growth. At the EU Education Council of November 2006, a UK-driven proposal for a compendium of good practice on Higher Education won widespread support. The Commission and member states are taking forward this proposal within the framework of the EU Peer Learning Cluster on Modernizing Higher Education.
	The Department remains committed to the implementation of actions under the International Strategy.

Languages

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 20 February 2007,  Official Report, column 705W, on language courses, how many  (a) special and  (b) independent schools entered no pupils for a GCSE in (i) history, (ii) geography and (iii) a modern foreign language in each year since 1996.

Jim Knight: The information requested is given in the following tables.
	
		
			  Number of schools where no pupils( 1)  were entered for History GCSE 
			   Independent schools  Special schools( 2)  Independent special schools 
			 2006 280 831 72 
			 2005 255 837 64 
			 2004 276 872 71 
			 2003 192 877 69 
			 2002 191 880 62 
			 2001 182 888 66 
			 2000 191 906 63 
			 1999 198 920 63 
			 1998 205 910 59 
			 1997 194 920 63 
			 (1 )Aged 15 at the beginning of the academic year, i.e. 31 August. (2) Special schools includes community special schools, foundation special schools and non-maintained special schools. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of schools where no pupils( 1)  were entered for Geography GCSE 
			   Independent schools  Special schools( 2)  Independent special schools 
			 2006 297 830 72 
			 2005 284 840 65 
			 2004 302 863 67 
			 2003 207 871 65 
			 2002 207 868 57 
			 2001 198 874 66 
			 2000 202 895 60 
			 1999 191 912 61 
			 1998 201 900 56 
			 1997 190 907 61 
			 (1 )Aged 15 at the beginning of the academic year, i.e. 31 August. (2) Special schools includes community special schools, foundation special schools and non-maintained special schools. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of schools where no pupils( 1)  were entered for a Modern Foreign Language GCSE 
			   Independent schools  Special schools( 2)  Independent special schools 
			 2006 223 827 77 
			 2005 200 830 70 
			 2004 231 855 73 
			 2003 119 862 71 
			 2002 121 873 62 
			 2001 123 883 69 
			 2000 117 899 67 
			 1999 122 913 68 
			 1998 135 913 60 
			 1997 123 901 67 
			 (1 )Aged 15 at the beginning of the academic year, i.e. 31 August. (2) Special schools includes community special schools, foundation special schools and non-maintained special schools.

Physical Education

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his most recent estimate is of the amount of time scheduled for PE and sport during the school day that is taken up by changing; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: This data have not been collected centrally. The guidance that accompanied the 2005/06 School Sport Survey advised schools that "curriculum time" was the total time provided for PE lessons during the school day. This included changing time but not travelling time.

Physical Education

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what advice his Department has issued to  (a) schools and  (b) school sports co-ordinators on the collection of data on the number of school children who take part in a minimum of two hours of PE or sport in school time; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  who is responsible for  (a) supplying,  (b) compiling and  (c) verifying the data on the number of school children who take part in a minimum of two hours of PE or sport in school time each week; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Department has commissioned TNS, an independent research company, to conduct the annual school sport surveys. Data are supplied by schools and partnership development managers and compiled by TNS. A validation exercise is carried out by TNS.
	A copy of the 2005-06 school sport survey guidance has been placed in the House Library.

Physical Education

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the number of PE lessons cancelled each year as a result of  (a) examinations,  (b) exam preparation,  (c) poor weather and  (d) facility use clashes; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: This data have not been collected centrally. Schools have a duty to teach the full programmes of study set out in the PE national curriculum to all pupils. It is for them to decide how they arrange the timetable to achieve this.

Public Service Agreements

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which statistics are used to determine whether his Department's public service agreement (PSA) targets have been met, broken down by PSA target; and which of these are classified as national statistics.

Parmjit Dhanda: holding answer 15 January 2007
	 The Department for Education and Skills public service agreement incorporates technical notes which contain information about the statistics used to monitor progress towards meeting the Department's PSA targets. The Agreement can be accessed using the following URL:
	http://www.dfes.gov.uk/SR2004/PSA/
	A report by the independent Statistics Commission entitled "PSA Targets: the Devil in the Detail," which was published on 20 March 2006, contains an independent analysis of each Department's PSA targets. Copies of that report are available in the Library of the House and can also be accessed using the following URL:
	http://www.statscom.org.Uk/C_467.aspx

Pupils: Intimidation

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the impact of the Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 on schools' policies on bullying;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the Education and Skills Select Committee's recent recommendations to require schools to record all incidents of bullying together with details about the type of bullying;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the merits of issuing non-compulsory guidelines for schools on drawing-up policies against specific types of bullying.

Jim Knight: The Department has not carried out a specific assessment of the impact of the Sexual Orientation Regulations on schools' bullying policies. However, the Regulations will ensure schools tackle homophobic bullying as seriously as other forms of bullying. We will clarify how the Regulations apply to school bullying policies in our forthcoming guidance "Preventing and Responding to Homophobic Bullying".
	We are currently considering all the Education and Skills Select Committee's recommendations, including that to require schools to record all incidents of bullying, and will issue a formal response very soon.
	On the merits of issuing non-compulsory guidelines for schools, head teachers are under a statutory duty to determine measures to prevent all forms of bullying. The Department took a deliberate decision not to make its anti-bullying guidance statutory, or for that matter legally require schools to sign up to the Anti-Bullying Charter. We believe it is better to work with schools to encourage them to take ownership of their policies, and to tailor them to their own needs and circumstances. We recommend that, as best practice, schools consult the entire school community, including parents and pupils, in drawing up their behaviour policies, and indeed they are now under a legal requirement to do so under the Education and Inspections Act 2006.
	Ofsted reported in 2003 that most schools make good use of DfES anti-bullying guidance, and use the materials to raise staff awareness, revisit anti-bullying policies and strengthen their procedures. Our current overarching guidance to schools on tackling bullying, "Don't Suffer in Silence" was externally evaluated by researchers from Goldsmiths College London in 2003, who found that the pack met schools' expectations and helped in drawing up their anti-bullying policies.

School Meals

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 130-1W, on school meals, what proportion of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4, attending secondary schools falling within each percentage point in terms of the proportion of pupils attending the school who are eligible for free school meals, achieved five or more GCSEs at A*-C including English and mathematics in 2006.

Jim Knight: The information requested can be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

Schools: Combined Heat and Power

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with  (a) manufacturers,  (b) suppliers and  (c) installers of roof-mounted microgeneration technologies for the Eco-Schools programme;
	(2)  what plans he has to encourage the awarding of contracts to accredited or TrustMark affiliated contractors for the Eco-Schools programme; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what discussions he has had with representatives of the roofing industry on the construction of eco-friendly roofs as part of the Eco-Schools programme; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The hon. Gentleman's questions refer to an "Eco-Schools" programme.
	The only Eco-Schools programme that we are aware of is one for existing schools which results in three levels of award to acknowledge increasing levels of pupil involvement in a range of environmental issues. The Department is not involved in running this Eco-Schools programme(1.)
	The Department and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have, however, been involved in discussions with manufacturers, suppliers and installers of roof-mounted microgeneration technologies. The DTI has also recently made grant funding available for the installation of these technologies in existing schools within the Low Carbon Buildings Programme(2). In addition, it is already a requirement of Building Regulations that all new school buildings over 1,000 m(2) in area should consider the use of microgeneration and some regional and local planning policies require new schools of this size to install on-site renewable energy to supply a proportion (typically 10 per cent.) of the predicted building's energy load. Furthermore, on 10 April this year the Secretary of State for Education and Skills announced that:
	"We're already rebuilding and refurbishing every Secondary School in the country and, as part of this programme, we will put £110 million over the next three years to test a bold aim—even higher standards for new and refurbished schools to reduce their carbon emissions, in some cases up to carbon neutrality."
	DfES has made it a condition of funding for our capital programmes that "BREEAM Schools(3)" assessments are carried out for all major new and refurbishment projects above a certain size. "BREEAM Schools" awards credits for good environmental practices of contractors and good environmental performance of building elements, including roofs. DfES and CIRIA have also recently produced a guide "Sustainable Water Management in Schools" which encourages designers to use eco-friendly roofs to harvest rainwater.
	(1 )www.eco-schools.org.uk
	(2 )http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/micro/
	(3 )http//www.breeam.org/schools.html

Schools: Eating Disorders

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to tackle the development of eating disorders by children through interventions in schools.

Jim Knight: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 6 March,  Official  R eport, column 1918W.

Schools: National Anthems

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his Department's policy is on the singing of the national anthem in schools.

Jim Knight: Singing is an integral part of the National Curriculum for Music from Key Stages 1 to 3. At each stage teachers are required to introduce a range of music from different times and cultures. It is for schools to decide whether singing the National Anthem will meet the needs of their pupils in respect of the requirements for Music. Learning about the national anthem may also be included in Citizenship which became statutory for 11-16 year olds in September 2002.

Schools: Sports

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the  (a) number and  (b) percentage of schools which have been awarded the Active Mark scheme by the Youth Sport Trust; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: 50 per cent. (7,049) of the primary schools taking part in the annual school sport survey in 2005/06 met the standard and were awarded Activemark 2006. The award is only available to primary schools plus special schools and Pupil Referral Units which have primary aged pupils.

Schools: Standards

Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many schools have been in special measures for two years or more;
	(2)  how many schools have been in either serious weaknesses or special measures for two years or more; and how many pupils attend such schools.

Jim Knight: There are currently four schools that have been in special measures for two years or more. The total number of pupils in these schools is 2,461.
	The serious weakness category was replaced by a new category of requiring significant improvement under revised procedures for schools causing concern from September 2005. 18 schools which have yet to be inspected under the revised procedures have been in serious weakness category for two years or more. There are 6,025 pupils in these schools.

Science: Publicity

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what financial support his Department gives to  (a) science centres and  (b) other projects which (i) promote (A) science, (B) engineering and (C) technology to the general public and (ii) are involved in adding value to the teaching of those subjects in schools.

Jim Knight: The Department provided £1 million, as part of a £2 million joint DfES/DTI funding package, to science centres in 2004-06 to help alleviate short term funding problems.
	Since then the Department has paid a further £250,000, as part of a £750,000 joint DfES/DTI funding package over the period 2006-08, for ECSITE-UK to work with the science centres to:
	demonstrate their impact and the added-value they deliver;
	encourage the centres to work more effectively together, and collaboratively with museums, SETNET, Science Learning Centres and Science Cities; and,
	maximise their future financial viability.
	The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Programme Report, published in October 2006, arose from the recommendations of the 2004 STEM Mapping Review. Its aim is to bring coherence and co-ordination to the many initiatives identified during the review, and to address any gaps in policy. The programme is working to reinforce the priorities set out in the Government's "Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004-14: Next Steps" DfES funded projects that promote science, engineering and technology to the general public, or are involved in adding value to the teaching of those subjects in schools include:
	a £51 million partnership with the Wellcome Trust to set up a national network of Science Learning Centres providing professional development for science teachers and technicians
	a £5 million initiative to pilot 250 after school science and engineering clubs offering an engaging and stretching programme of activities to Key Stage 3 pupils with interest and potential in science.
	more than £2 million to the CADCAM programme, managed by the Design and Technology Association, which provides training and support for teachers to use industrial design software in secondary schools. An estimated £10million worth of software has been donated to UK schools by software companies
	£125,000 support to the Engineering Education scheme, run by the Engineering Development Trust, working with young people to increase the number of students experiencing the benefits of engineering, science and technology.
	increasing the value of the teacher training bursary for science graduates to £9,000 and increasing the 'Golden Hello' for new science teachers to £5,000 for trainees entering PGCE and equivalent courses.
	implementing the recommendations of the School Teachers' Review Body on improving the use of current pay incentives and flexibilities to improve the recruitment, retention and quality of science teachers.
	introducing a new statutory entitlement for all students to study science courses leading to at least two GCSEs, to come into effect from September 2007.
	making GCSEs in the individual sciences of physics, chemistry and biology accessible to all pupils achieving at least level 6 or above at Key Stage 3, from September 2008.
	reviewing the secondary curriculum to make it more manageable and focus on the key conceptual underpinnings of science, as well as its excitement and relevance. The revised Key Stage 3 science curriculum will be introduced into schools for first teaching from September 2008.

Secondary Education: Curriculum

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what  (a) professional development and  (b) technical assistance the Department plans to provide to schools for the implementation of the secondary curriculum review's findings.

Jim Knight: We are developing a comprehensive package of communications, training and support for teachers, subject leaders and head teachers. This will be delivered both face to face and online by a range of partners, including the professional subject associations, National Strategies and the National College of School Leadership.
	Professional development will begin in June and July, with nine high-level regional events run by the QCA for local authorities, school leaders, deputies and curriculum managers. These will be followed up by a series of DfES events in the autumn which will set the new curriculum in the context of wider changes, 11-19, and explain what schools need to do next and what support is available.
	In September 2007, the QCA will launch a new website for the revised secondary curriculum which will enable teachers, deputy heads and curriculum managers to link areas of learning across subjects. It will provide cross-references to information outside the curriculum and offer a wide range of supporting material in easily accessible ways.
	As well as the revised Programmes of Study, the website will include information about the curriculum aims; inclusion; personal development and skills across all subjects. Teachers will be able to use interactive features to track areas of learning such as sustainability, diversity, enterprise and creativity across the curriculum, and there will be on-line support for curriculum planning and assessment. Throughout the site, there will be links to explanatory text, supporting guidance, teaching materials and case studies.

Secondary Education: Curriculum

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1575W, on secondary education: curriculum, what the evidential basis was for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's decision to reduce the amount of specific and particular subject content in the secondary curriculum review programmes of study.

Jim Knight: The QCA's advice to reduce the amount of specific and particular subject content in the secondary curriculum programmes of study was in line with the remit given in February 2005.
	Reducing the amount of subject content will increase opportunities for learners to secure the functional skills required for life and work. It will create the flexibility to stretch more able learners and ensure that those at risk of falling behind are able to catch up.

Secondary Education: Curriculum

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1575W, 
	(1)  on secondary education: curriculum, what the main principles of effective teaching identified by the review of research into effective teaching carried out in the preparation of the secondary curriculum review were;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1575W, on secondary education: curriculum, whether the Qualification and Curriculum Authority has established causal links between the principles of effective teaching it has identified and cognitive outcomes;
	(3)  pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1575W, on secondary education: curriculum, what documents containing evidence on the principles of effective teaching were taken into consideration by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in the preparation of the secondary curriculum review  (a) programmes of study and  (b) supporting guidance.

Jim Knight: In preparing for the secondary curriculum review the QCA considered evidence from research and reports into effective teaching produced by: Ofsted; various specialist subject and professional associations; national agencies, such as national strategies; and others. Documents containing evidence on the principles of effective teaching are available on the websites of each of these organisations.
	In the answer of 1 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1575W, on secondary education: curriculum, 10 specific principles of effective learning were referenced. The 10 principles are that:
	students learn more when they are engaged actively during an instructional task;
	high success rates (and to a less certain extent, moderate success rates) are correlated positively with student learning outcomes and low success rates are correlated negatively with student learning outcomes;
	increased opportunity to learn content is correlated. positively with increased student achievement. Therefore the more content covered, the greater the potential for student learning;
	students achieve more in classes in which they spend much of their time being directly taught or supervised by their teacher. In general, teacher instructional time that is spent with large groups is correlated positively with student achievement;
	students can become independent, self-regulated learners through instruction that is deliberately and carefully scaffolded;
	the critical forms of knowledge associated with strategic learning are (a) declarative knowledge, (b) procedural knowledge, and (c) conditional knowledge. Each of these must be addressed if students are to become independent, self-regulated learners;
	learning is increased when teaching is presented in a manner that assists students in organising, storing and retrieving knowledge;
	students can become more independent, self-regulated learners through strategic instruction;
	students can become independent, self-regulated learners through instruction that is explicit;
	by teaching sameness both within and across subjects, teachers promote the ability of students to access potentially relevant knowledge in novel problem-solving situations.
	The document containing these principles, by Ellis, E.S., Worthington., L. A. and Larkin, MJ. (1996) is entitled "Research synthesis on effective teaching principles and the design of quality tools". It is produced by the Worthington National Centre to Improve the Tools of Educators.

Statistics

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the process is for deciding the date of publication of statistics prepared by or relating to the Department; and who is involved in that process.

Jim Knight: The National Statistics Code of Practice (2002)—which serves as a model for all public sector statistical work—established the principle that
	"final responsibility for the content, format and timing of release of National Statistics"
	rests with the Head of Profession for Statistics in each Department. The Head of Profession has published a statement describing how the Department's release practices comply with the Release Practice Protocol. This can be accessed at:
	http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/compliance06.pdf.
	In reaching their decisions, Heads of Profession take into consideration the detailed procedural guidance given in the "National Statistics Protocol on Release Practices".
	Copies of the code and its 12 supporting protocols are available in the Library of the House and can also be accessed using the following address:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/national_statistics/cop/default.asp

Statistics

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which statistics released by his Department and its agencies are classified as  (a) national statistics and  (b) official statistics; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: holding answer 16 January 2007
	 A list of the titles of all of the National Statistics produced by each Department and Agency was placed in the Library of the House on 8 January 2007 to accompany the Second Reading of the Statistics and Registration Bill. An equivalent list was also placed on the National Statistics website. These lists can be accessed using the following URL:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/ns_ons/nsproducts/default.asp
	In addition to National Statistics, the Department for Education and Skills publishes a wide range of other numerical information in a variety of forms including other data produced from the management and administration of the Department and in research reports. There is no centrally held information on the total published.

Teachers: Copeland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many  (a) primary school teachers,  (b) primary school teaching assistants,  (c) secondary school teachers and  (d) secondary school teaching assistants were employed in Copeland in financial year (i) 1996-97 and (ii) 2006-07;
	(2)  what the pupil to teacher ratio in Copeland  (a) primary schools and  (b) secondary schools was in financial year (i) 1996-97 and (ii) 2006-07.

Jim Knight: The following table shows the full-time equivalent number of regular teachers and teaching assistants employed in maintained primary and secondary schools and the pupil to teacher ratios in Copeland constituency, January 1997 and 2006 which is the latest information available at constituency level.
	
		
			  Full-time equivalent number of regular teachers and teaching( 1 ) assistants employed in maintained primary and secondary schools and the pupil/teacher ratios in Copeland constituency, January 1997 and 2006 
			   Primary  Secondary 
			   Regular teachers  Teaching assistants( 1)  PTR( 2,3)  Regular teachers  Teaching assistants( 1)  PTR( 2,3) 
			 1997 366 67 24.9 402 4 17.4 
			 2006 388 221 22.0 474 62 16.8 
			 (1) Teaching assistant figures includes teaching assistants, special needs support staff and minority ethnic pupil support staff.  (2) The within school PTR is calculated by dividing the total FTE number of pupils on roll in schools by the total FTE number of qualified teachers regularly employed in schools.  (3) For statistical purposes only, pupils who do not attend both morning and afternoon at least five days a week are regarded as part-time. Each part-time pupil is treated as 0.5 FTE.   Source:  Annual School Census

Young People: Unemployment

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of  (a) 16 year olds,  (b) 17 year olds and  (c) 18 year olds in each local education authority area were not in employment, education or training in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The following table gives the number and proportion of  (a)16,  (b) 17 and  (c) 18 year olds not in education, employment or training by local authority in England, for December 2005 and 2006.
	Data are drawn from the operational client management systems maintained by Connexions services. They only include those people known to the service (about 85 per cent. of the population); some young people who attended independent schools or were at school outside England are excluded. The age relates to those of calendar year age 16-18 on the date of measurement. Data are only available at the local authority level from 2005.
	These NEET measures are those used for setting and monitoring local authority NEET targets. The definition differs from that used to measure the national departmental PSA NEET target. Along with not covering the entire population, the Connexions NEET measure excludes those on gap years, those in custody and those undertaking voluntary work. The PSA measure is for academic rather than calendar age 16-18.
	It is estimated that 220,000 (11 per cent.) 16 to 18 year olds were not in education, employment or training (NEET) at the end of 2005. Not all of these young people are out of work—the figures include young people taking a break from study, caring for families, or simply between jobs or courses. Annual surveys carried out on a group of young people at ages 16, 17 and 18 found that nearly 20 per cent. were NEET at one of the three survey dates, while only around 1 per cent. were NEET at each of the three survey points.
	Record numbers of 16 year olds are in full-time education. But, we recognise the need to take action to reduce the proportion of young people not in any form of education, employment or training, and have set ourselves a very challenging target to get the proportion down to 8 per cent. by 2010.
	Our 14-19 reforms are vital: the implementation plan makes a commitment to make an offer of learning to every young person after they complete year 11. They also give us the platform for agencies working with young people to plan and develop learning and employment opportunities that meet local needs.
	To keep them in learning, we need to help them tackle the other issues in their lives that might cause them to leave, which we are doing through our Every Child Matters reforms.
	
		
			  Number and p roportion of 16 to 18 year  olds NEET by local authority as at December 2005 and 2006 
			   Number  Percentage 
			   (a) 16 year olds  (b) 17 year olds  (c) 18 year olds  (a) 16 year olds  (b) 17 year olds  (c) 18 year olds 
			   2005  2006  2005  2006  2005  2006  2005  2006  2005  2006  2005  2006 
			  South East 
			 Bracknell Forest 50 30 100 60 80 80 7.7 4.8 9.1 6.0 7.7 6.5 
			 Reading 140 90 210 160 190 130 11.0 7.2 10.8 8.3 9.2 5.1 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 40 30 70 60 70 50 4.1 4.2 4.8 4.3 5.4 3.9 
			 Slough 100 60 140 90 150 90 10.0 5.8 8.0 5.6 9.0 4.8 
			 West Berkshire 70 60 120 90 90 90 5.6 4.7 6.7 4.9 5.7 6.0 
			 Wokingham 50 40 90 50 80 60 5.8 5.4 6.5 4.3 5.2 5.4 
			 Kent 710 640 1,230 1,140 950 1,190 6.1 5.4 7.0 6.6 5.5 6.9 
			 Medway 190 130 350 290 280 240 7.3 5.0 9.1 7.7 7.6 6.1 
			 Buckinghamshire 100 90 210 160 220 190 2.7 2.4 3.9 2.9 4.4 3.8 
			 Milton Keynes 130 100 220 180 200 180 7.2 5.5 7.8 6.5 7.2 6.2 
			 Oxfordshire 200 230 370 330 320 330 4.4 5.2 5.3 4.6 4.8 4.7 
			 Portsmouth 150 90 220 200 160 180 14.5 9.7 13.8 12.1 7.9 8.8 
			 Southampton 190 180 340 250 190 230 11.4 10.5 13.0 9.9 7.3 8.8 
			 Isle of Wight 70 60 90 100 80 110 6.5 5.6 5.5 6.2 4.9 6.2 
			 Hampshire 580 570 810 850 530 800 5.5 5.4 5.1 5.5 3.4 5.3 
			 Surrey 250 250 410 360 340 310 3.4 3.3 3.6 3.3 3.0 2.9 
			 Brighton and Hove 170 150 290 280 290 290 9.6 9.4 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.8 
			 East Sussex 280 250 450 460 440 490 7.4 6.7 8.1 8.3 8.1 9.1 
			 West Sussex 260 240 440 390 370 420 4.4 3.9 5.0 4.5 4.4 4.9 
			  
			  London 
			 Camden 80 80 180 140 190 160 5.6 7.4 9.7 7.0 10.9 8.1 
			 Islington 120 110 250 210 260 210 7.3 7.7 10.5 8.7 11.7 8.6 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 30 40 70 80 90 80 7.8 7.5 9.3 8.8 10.3 8.0 
			 Lambeth 140 100 300 200 350 210 12.1 11.1 15.3 10.9 17.0 10.1 
			 Southwark 120 120 290 250 320 230 10.7 9.4 15.3 12.9 14.3 11.5 
			 Wandsworth 90 80 180 150 180 160 6.1 5.2 7.2 6.2 6.9 6.2 
			 Westminster 110 50 140 100 130 110 10.3 5.8 8.2 6.6 7.1 7.0 
			 Barking and Dagenham 180 160 290 280 250 290 12.4 9.4 13.4 11.8 11.6 12.3 
			 Bexley 150 140 230 180 220 140 7.7 8.4 8.2 6.7 7.9 5.3 
			 City of London — — — — — 10 0.0 1.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.5 
			 Greenwich 180 170 350 280 370 360 10.9 10.2 13.1 11.0 12.8 13.1 
			 Hackney 130 120 280 240 330 290 11.7 10.9 17.2 13.3 18.8 13.1 
			 Havering 150 130 270 230 200 200 7.0 5.5 7.9 6.4 5.8 5.5 
			 Lewisham 140 60 260 190 260 230 7.9 3.7 10.0 6.8 9.0 8.0 
			 Newham 210 210 360 360 310 380 9.5 10.2 10.6 11.1 9.1 11.0 
			 Redbridge 130 90 200 180 230 180 5.7 3.8 6.3 5.1 6.8 5.5 
			 Tower Hamlets 150 130 300 280 410 290 9.1 7.9 11.4 12.0 15.2 12.6 
			 Barnet 120 120 210 160 260 230 5.3 4.6 5.9 3.8 7.0 5.5 
			 Enfield 180 140 320 250 320 300 7.3 5.7 8.5 6.6 8.3 7.8 
			 Haringey 140 130 270 230 290 270 9.0 11.4 11.5 12.2 11.8 12.5 
			 Waltham Forest 100 120 230 230 200 170 4.9 5.3 6.8 7.1 6.1 5.9 
			 Bromley 90 100 210 190 190 200 3.7 4.1 5.5 5.0 5.5 5.2 
			 Croydon 210 170 370 310 340 350 8.4 6.8 9.6 8.3 9.1 8.8 
			 Kingston 40 30 70 80 80 70 2.9 2.2 3.7 4.0 3.9 3.4 
			 Merton 60 40 80 80 80 70 8.8 6.5 7.2 7.5 6.5 5.5 
			 Richmond 40 30 50 60 60 50 4.8 4.2 3.9 4.7 3.5 3.8 
			 Sutton 70 70 150 120 150 140 4.1 4.2 5.5 4.6 6.1 5.3 
			 Brent 60 60 140 140 160 230 3.5 4.8 5.0 5.5 5.7 8.3 
			 Ealing 100 100 210 180 200 220 6.8 7.0 8.2 7.9 7.4 8.2 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 130 50 170 120 170 130 22.9 7.2 15.8 9.8 13.4 8.8 
			 Harrow 80 40 140 130 150 170 5.1 2.5 5.4 5.2 5.8 6.5 
			 Hillingdon 180 140 350 220 280 340 8.6 6.3 8.5 6.3 7.5 8.2 
			 Hounslow 110 100 200 210 230 270 5.8 6.5 6.7 7.9 8.6 8.9 
			  
			  East of England 
			 Bedfordshire 210 190 340 310 360 360 6.6 6.0 7.0 6.5 7.7 7.5 
			 Luton 100 100 240 210 260 280 6.2 6.4 8.9 8.9 9.7 10.9 
			 Cambridgeshire 220 200 350 340 370 330 5.1 4.8 5.6 5.3 6.2 5.2 
			 Peterborough 140 110 270 230 260 270 8.8 6.4 10.7 9.1 11.2 11.6 
			 Essex 850 610 1,360 1,120 1,240 1,130 8.2 5.7 8.8 7.3 8.0 7.1 
			 Thurrock 140 90 200 180 180 160 9.1 6.0 9.2 8.1 8.7 8.0 
			 Southend 120 100 230 210 200 220 6.2 5.2 8.3 7.1 8.7 8.4 
			 Hertfordshire 420 360 700 590 620 640 4.6 3.9 5.0 4.3 4.8 4.8 
			 Norfolk 410 470 750 770 710 790 6.6 7.1 7.9 8.0 7.8 8.3 
			 Suffolk 370 370 670 650 690 710 6.9 6.9 8.3 8.2 9.0 9.0 
			  
			  South West 
			 Bournemouth 90 110 150 140 110 140 8.0 9.2 9.4 8.0 6.5 8.1 
			 Dorset 170 200 240 290 240 280 6.0 6.5 5.8 6.8 6.1 7.0 
			 Poole 60 90 120 90 100 90 5.2 7.2 7.4 5.2 5.8 5.3 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 280 230 430 400 470 460 6.4 5.1 6.6 6.1 7.6 7.3 
			 Devon 310 300 520 530 440 450 5.8 5.2 6.5 6.5 5.7 5.8 
			 Plymouth 180 140 310 270 300 280 7.4 6.2 8.3 7.4 7.7 7.5 
			 Torbay 60 80 110 130 100 100 5.1 7.2 5.9 7.4 6.0 5.6 
			 Gloucestershire 240 210 460 360 510 380 4.8 4.3 6.0 4.8 6.9 5.2 
			 Somerset 220 180 360 300 290 260 5.3 4.3 5.7 4.9 4.8 4.6 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 70 50 120 100 120 120 4.9 3.4 5.5 4.1 5.8 4.6 
			 Bristol 200 180 450 350 370 410 7.9 6.0 10.9 7.6 8.5 8.8 
			 North Somerset 60 60 100 90 110 100 4.5 4.4 4.4 5.0 5.3 5.0 
			 South Gloucestershire 110 90 180 150 150 140 5.2 5.6 5.7 5.9 4.9 5.0 
			 Swindon 90 140 190 210 130 230 5.5 7.8 7.3 8.0 5.1 8.3 
			 Wiltshire 180 210 250 270 210 240 6.1 6.5 5.9 5.9 4.9 5.1 
			  
			  West Midlands 
			 Birmingham 980 780 1,690 1,460 1,880 1,630 12.4 8.4 13.9 11.4 15.4 13.4 
			 Solihull 200 150 310 260 370 260 8.2 7.4 8.4 7.9 10.5 7.7 
			 Dudley 260 220 340 340 320 270 9.0 6.3 8.3 6.5 7.7 6.0 
			 Sandwell 310 230 400 470 330 440 12.9 13.5 11.3 18.5 8.5 14.5 
			 Walsall 240 190 400 350 320 320 10.6 8.0 11.3 9.8 9.1 9.0 
			 Wolverhampton 210 210 430 380 370 340 10.0 10.0 12.6 11.6 10.8 9.9 
			 Coventry 200 190 390 360 390 380 7.1 6.7 9.5 8.7 9.4 9.5 
			 Warwickshire 250 280 400 440 370 450 5.8 6.2 6.3 6.8 6.1 7.2 
			 Herefordshire 70 70 170 100 140 120 5.1 4.9 8.3 5.3 7.3 5.9 
			 Worcestershire 250 180 430 350 390 340 5.8 4.1 6.8 5.6 6.6 5.6 
			 Shropshire 120 80 190 180 160 170 5.4 3.8 6.0 5.4 5.1 5.3 
			 Telford and Wrekin 120 130 180 200 210 200 8.4 8.7 8.2 9.2 9.8 9.1 
			 Staffordshire 410 390 710 730 770 890 6.1 5.7 7.1 7.2 8.0 8.8 
			 Stoke on Trent 270 230 530 530 550 610 12.9 11.1 15.5 15.9 16.7 17.7 
			  
			  East Midlands 
			 Derby 190 150 340 310 310 240 8.5 7.0 10.3 9.5 9.6 7.8 
			 Derbyshire 370 330 660 540 620 560 7.4 6.2 8.6 6.9 7.8 7.2 
			 Leicester 270 260 540 480 440 500 9.2 9.0 12.1 10.6 10.0 10.9 
			 Leicestershire 300 280 470 390 410 390 6.2 5.4 6.7 5.4 5.8 5.6 
			 Lincolnshire 320 260 510 450 450 460 5.7 4.5 6.1 5.3 5.8 5.6 
			 Rutland — 10 — — — — 0.5 4.5 0.9 1.8 1.3 1.7 
			 Northamptonshire 400 310 660 530 710 550 7.1 5.5 7.9 6.3 8.8 6.7 
			 Nottinghamshire 330 290 480 480 430 460 5.0 4.6 4.9 5.1 4.5 5.0 
			 Nottingham 190 200 350 340 370 380 7.9 6.9 9.8 7.6 10.2 8.8 
			  
			  Yorks and The Humber 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 100 130 210 250 190 220 5.1 4.6 6.1 6.0 5.7 5.5 
			 Kingston upon Hull 270 240 570 500 620 550 11.5 10.5 13.6 14.6 14.4 14.8 
			 North East Lincolnshire 120 140 260 260 270 220 8.4 8.5 9.9 10.9 10.1 8.5 
			 North Lincolnshire 80 110 200 210 210 240 5.5 7.6 8.4 9.2 9.0 10.0 
			 Barnsley 240 190 410 340 320 370 13.3 10.1 14.7 13.2 11.5 12.8 
			 Doncaster 330 310 500 480 400 370 12.8 11.9 12.6 12.7 10.0 9.7 
			 Rotherham 250 270 400 430 320 420 9.9 9.6 10.6 10.9 8.8 11.5 
			 Sheffield 390 320 680 620 680 680 9.7 8.3 10.8 10.3 10.8 11.2 
			 Bradford 370 380 690 630 740 540 9.5 9.6 11.4 10.5 11.9 9.0 
			 Calderdale 110 120 260 210 270 300 6.3 7.5 10.3 8.9 10.5 11.9 
			 Kirklees 310 290 530 520 580 620 8.3 7.7 9.4 9.6 10.5 11.6 
			 Leeds 570 510 970 880 950 820 9.3 8.4 10.5 9.8 10.5 9.3 
			 Wakefield 350 290 550 520 380 380 12.6 10.0 13.1 11.8 9.3 8.7 
			 York 90 100 140 140 130 140 4.8 5.0 5.1 5.0 5.5 5.8 
			 North Yorkshire 190 190 360 290 300 320 4.1 4.0 5.2 4.2 4.8 4.8 
			  
			  North West 
			 Cheshire 330 290 470 490 460 430 5.6 5.0 5.4 5.6 5.5 5.0 
			 Warrington 120 90 200 180 190 170 6.6 5.6 7.8 7.4 7.6 7.1 
			 Cumbria 220 200 390 300 470 400 5.4 4.6 6.4 4.8 7.8 6.8 
			 Bolton 270 300 450 440 390 440 10.3 13.8 11.4 13.3 10.0 11.8 
			 Bury 130 140 220 210 200 190 7.9 8.5 8.1 8.2 7.8 7.2 
			 City of Manchester 430 390 760 650 640 700 11.3 10.1 12.8 11.5 11.0 11.8 
			 Oldham 160 170 280 280 260 270 7.0 8.3 7.6 8.9 7.3 8.1 
			 Rochdale 190 160 330 290 280 240 10.2 12.3 11.2 13.6 9.5 9.7 
			 Salford 180 180 320 340 210 210 9.4 10.2 11.0 12.7 7.9 7.3 
			 Stockport 140 200 250 280 210 300 6.3 8.5 6.9 8.2 5.9 8.8 
			 Trafford 110 110 190 180 170 180 5.7 6.5 6.3 7.3 5.7 6.8 
			 Tameside 180 170 300 280 230 230 8.4 8.9 9.1 9.7 7.0 7.6 
			 Wigan 280 280 420 440 430 420 10.5 9.9 9.8 10.4 9.6 9.2 
			 Halton 80 110 190 180 220 230 7.6 10.1 11.2 10.9 12.3 13.0 
			 Knowsley 110 130 220 250 320 300 8.1 11.1 10.3 13.4 15.0 14.7 
			 Liverpool 370 370 760 760 880 920 8.9 9.5 11.9 13.4 14.2 15.4 
			 Sefton 170 140 310 300 330 390 6.4 4.9 7.9 7.1 8.6 9.2 
			 St. Helens 160 130 270 250 260 290 11.4 7.4 11.9 9.8 11 .5 11.6 
			 Wirral 180 240 460 420 470 530 6.1 8.1 9.8 9.4 10.5 11.3 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 110 130 260 210 260 250 7.9 5.4 11 .6 6.6 11.5 8.6 
			 Blackpool 130 140 280 230 210 250 9.4 7.3 14.2 8.7 10.9 10.6 
			 Lancashire 660 630 1,200 1,050 1,100 1,150 6.9 7.0 8.3 7.9 7.8 8.3 
			  
			  North East 
			 Durham 440 410 780 740 880 900 11.8 10.3 13.2 12.7 14.5 14.6 
			 Northumberland 180 170 360 360 400 440 7.5 6.7 9.6 10.2 10.9 11 .9 
			 Darlington 80 60 160 130 130 120 7.6 4.6 9.8 6.9 8.8 7.7 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 160 110 270 220 280 270 9.0 7.5 9.8 9.9 10.2 11.1 
			 Middlesbrough 170 140 350 290 360 450 12.8 9.3 16.4 12.4 16.4 17.9 
			 Hartlepool 80 70 130 160 160 200 9.0 6.9 9.3 12.5 11.9 14.0 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 110 130 230 200 250 280 8.2 9.6 10.9 10.4 12.0 14.3 
			 Sunderland 290 250 510 490 570 580 11.8 10.3 13.3 13.2 14.4 15.3 
			 Gateshead 160 140 320 260 330 350 10.6 9.7 13.5 11.7 14.8 14.7 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 250 250 470 410 430 460 9.1 8.2 10.8 9.3 10.1 10.3 
			 North Tyneside 160 140 290 250 260 300 10.3 9.2 12.0 11 .0 10.3 12.8 
			 South Tyneside 120 100 260 200 320 240 10.5 8.2 14.0 11.2 15.7 12.4 
			  Notes: 1. Data provided by Connexions and relate to the young person's actual age at the end of December each year. 2. 16 to 18 year olds in education are counted in the area in which their education establishment is located (except those in HE). 3. 16 to 18 year olds known to be undertaking a gap year, or in custody, are not recorded by Connexions as NEET. 4. The percentage NEET includes an adjustment for young people whose current activity is not known.  Source: Connexions Services

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Subsidies

Andrew Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farmers had not received their pre-populated single payment scheme application form for 2007 by 1 May; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 9 May 2007
	Approximately 121,700 SPS 2007 application forms were despatched well before our published target for despatch of mid-April to all SPS 2006 claimants and those who activated entitlements in SPS 2005. A further 2,190 forms have been sent out following ad hoc requests. As of 27 April 2007 almost 31,700 had been returned. Deadline for return is 15 May 2007.

Animals: Transport

Gwyn Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what procedures are in place to ensure that the journey logs required by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations are returned to his Department within one month of the completion of the journey; and what steps officials in his Department take to examine returned journey logs in order to identify  (a) breaches of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005 and  (b) unjustified differences between actual and proposed itineraries.

Ben Bradshaw: Journey logs must be returned to the Animal Health Divisional Office (AHDO) within 30 days of the completion of the journey. If this does not occur, AHDO staff write to the organiser of the journey, requesting the journey logs to be returned within five working days.
	All returned journey logs are checked by AHDO staff to see if the actual journey undertaken matches the planned details. Any deviations are identified and investigated, taking into account the transporter's explanation.

Cattle: Exports

Gwyn Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many live calves have been exported for further fattening since 1 January, broken down by country of destination.

Ben Bradshaw: The number of calves aged under 42 days exported between 1 January and 30 April 2007 are as follows:
	
		
			  Destination country  Number of calves 
			 Belgium 7,906 
			 Denmark 1 
			 France 5,913 
			 Netherlands 17,930 
			 Spain 5,384 
			 Total 37,134 
		
	
	The information is based on export notifications received to date and registered on the Cattle Tracing System. The figures do not identify animals by health certification status, for example whether the animals were exported for slaughter, further fattening or breeding.

Departments: Oral Questions

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many questions tabled by hon. and right hon. Members for oral answer by his Department on 19 April 2007, were subsequently transferred by his Department to other departments; and for what reasons they were transferred.

Barry Gardiner: My Department received 25 questions for oral answer on Thursday 19 April. Five of those questions were transferred to the Government Department responsible for the policy and which this Department could therefore not answer.
	The hon. Member tabled a question on the acreage of land prone to flooding that would be developed with housing during the next five years. The question was transferred to DCLG as it leads on national planning policy.
	Two identical questions were tabled on the Code for Sustainable Housing. The code concerns the introduction of higher environmental standards for new buildings and new homes. Responsibility for that and for planning housing and Building Regulations lies with the DCLG and the questions were therefore transferred to that Department.
	A question relating to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from the aviation sector was transferred to the Department for Transport as that Department is responsible for helping the aviation industry to reduce its environmental impacts.
	A question relating to the proportion of domestic biofuel consumption was also transferred to DFT. That Department is co-ordinating the assessment of the energy and other implications of the large scale use of biofuels.
	Seven hon. Members 'unstarred' their questions for answer on 19 April and one withdrew his question. Two hon. Members were not present on the day to ask their question so the Department had 10 questions to answer on the day.

Departments: Oral Questions

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many questions tabled by hon. and right hon. Members to his Department for oral answer have been transferred to other departments since May 2005.

Barry Gardiner: The Department has transferred 33 oral questions tabled by hon. and right hon. Members since May 2005. This is from a total number of 400 questions tabled.
	Questions are transferred to another Department when it is clear that DEFRA is not responsible for the policy raised in the question. Hon. Members are notified by letter on the day of transfer.
	The following table shows the breakdown by month and also shows the number of questions withdrawn and unstarred by hon. Members for the same period.
	
		
			  D EFRA  orals  Transferred  Withdrawn  Unstarred 
			 June 2005 3 0 0 
			 July 2005 1 4 1 
			 October 2005 4 0 1 
			 November 2005 4 1 0 
			 December 2005 5 2 0 
			 February 2006 2 0 2 
			 March 2006 0 2 1 
			 April 2006 0 1 1 
			 May 2006 1 2 1 
			 June 2006 2 1 2 
			 July 2006 2 2 0 
			 November 2006 1 0 0 
			 December 2006 0 2 0 
			 February 2007 2 0 0 
			 March 2007 1 3 2 
			 April 2007 5 1 7 
			 Total 33 21 18

Departments: Sick Leave

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people took sick leave for stress in his Department in the last 12 months; and what percentage of the total staff number this represents.

Barry Gardiner: The most recent sickness absence data available is for the 12 months ending 31 December 2006. During this period, 106 people had stress recorded as their reason for absence. This represents 2.6 per cent. of the number of staff in the Department on 31 December 2006.
	DEFRA has had a stress management policy in place since 1999. The Health and Safety Executive management standards have been incorporated into our arrangements and full information and guidance is available on the Intranet. Additional stress resources available in DEFRA include a manager's toolkit, leaflets and videos. This work is supported by DEFRA's Health and Safety Unit.

Domestic Wastes: Recycling

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the household recycling rates were for each region in England in the last year for which figures are available.

Ben Bradshaw: The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Region  2005-06 
			 North East 21.1 
			 North West 23.8 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 21.8 
			 East Midlands 31.8 
			 West Midlands 25.1 
			 East 34.1 
			 London 20.7 
			 South East 29.2 
			 South West 31.4 
			 England 26.7 
			  Source: DEFRA Municipal Waste Statistics

Environmental Protection (Restriction on Use of Lead Shot) (England) Regulations 1999

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects the review of the Environmental Protection (Restriction on Use of Lead Shot) (England) Regulations 1999 to be published.

Barry Gardiner: DEFRA has recently conducted research to help identify alternative methods for assessing the level of compliance to the Environmental Protection (Restriction on Use of Lead Shot) (England) Regulations 1999. The methods identified will be subject to a public consultation with the aim that one or more of them can be utilised over the 2007-08 shooting season, enabling a review of the regulations to take place in 2008.

Food: Packaging

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the volume of food packaging used in each year between 2000 and 2005.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 9 May 2007
	No estimate has been made specifically on food packaging volumes.
	However, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is providing technical and financial support to retailers to help identify ways of reducing the weight of primary packaging, mainly through research and development and innovative packaging design.

Food: Packaging

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government is taking to encourage food suppliers to use less packaging.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 9 May 2007
	I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, East (Mrs. James) on 1 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1525W.

International Whaling Commission: Poland

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with the Polish Prime Minister on Poland's possible membership of the International Whaling Commission; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 28 March 2007,  Official Report, columns 1577-78W.

Shellfish: Colchester Native Oyster

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects the application for a Protected Geographical Indication for the Colchester Native Oyster to be determined; on what date the application was made; what representations the UK Government has made to support the application; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: A completed application to register the Colchester Native Oyster was received in 2005. Since then, the application has been subject to a lengthy consultation process which provides interested parties within the UK with the opportunity to comment or object to the application. This consultation is necessary to ensure that all views are considered before a decision is taken by DEFRA on whether the application is justified and meets the requirements of the relevant Regulation.
	The consultation process prompted a number of objections to, and comments on, the application. Officials have been giving detailed consideration to these representations and have been working closely with the applicants to address them. A meeting earlier this month, between officials and representatives of the applicant group, discussed some final outstanding points relating to the product specification for the Colchester Native Oyster. Following this constructive meeting, an announcement about the next stage of this process is expected to be made within the next month.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan: Peace Keeping Operations

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the German Government's training of police in Afghanistan.

Kim Howells: Following the Bonn Agreement in 2001, Germany assumed lead nation status for the police sector. The German police training project has trained approximately 17,000 Afghan national police personnel, including around 4,000 commissioned and non-commissioned officers. It is our view that the training provided by the German Government has been effective, professional and sustainable. This has provided the Afghans with a sound foundation that will help deliver a police force with a thorough background in a range of policing activities in the long term.
	The German police training will become part of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) mission from June. The ESDP policing mission is an EU and international programme that aims to contribute to a joint international strategy for police reform.

Bangladesh: Elections

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect of the recent bombings at Dhaka and Sylhet railway stations in Bangladesh on the recommencement of the election process; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: We condemn the recent bombings at Dhaka and Sylhet railway stations in Bangladesh. The Caretaker government has made clear the importance it attaches to addressing the threat of extremism. We look forward to enhancing our co-operation with the Caretaker government in this regard.
	We do not believe that the need to combat terrorism will detract from the Caretaker government's stated commitment to restore democracy in Bangladesh in 2008. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary expressed support for the Caretaker government, called for a detailed roadmap to elections and stressed the importance of respect for human rights and due process when she met the Bangladesh Foreign Adviser, Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury in April.

Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU)

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's position is on the treaty status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: The Charter of Fundamental Rights was agreed at the Nice European Council in December 2000 as a political declaration.

Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria she used to decide whether to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda in November 2007; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The composition of the Government's delegation to the Commonwealth meetings in Uganda in November has yet to be finalised. However, either my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary, or another Minister from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is expected to attend the Foreign Ministers Meeting which takes place immediately before the Heads of Government Meeting. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister attends the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting itself.

Departments: India

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Ministers in her Department have visited India in the last 12 months; on how many occasions each Minister visited India; and what the length was of each visit.

Kim Howells: The Government publish an annual list of Cabinet Ministers' travel overseas costing over 500 along with the total cost of all ministerial travel. Information for 2005-06 was published on 24 July 2006 and is available in the Library of the House. Information for 2006-07 will be published as soon as it is ready.
	All travel is in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.
	My right hon. Friend the Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs (Mr. McCartney) visited India on 23-27 November. A detailed list of visits by all UK Ministers to India since 2003 can be found on the British high commission website on:
	http://www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPagec=Pagecid=1038154781863.

EC Action: Industrial Relations

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what steps the UK is taking under the Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue programme (EU budget line 04 03 03 01); and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps the UK is taking under the Information and Training Measures for Workers' Organisation programme (EU budget line 04 03 03 03); and if she will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: I have been asked to reply.
	Deployment of the budget is a matter for the Commission (within the agreed framework). The Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue programme (EU budget line 04 03 03 01) and the Information and Training Measures for Workers' Organisation programme (EU budget line 04 03 03 02 not 04 03 03 03) are two of the three programmes belonging to the 'Employment and Social AffairsWorking in Europe, Social Dialogue and Mobility' section of the EU Budget.
	The purpose of the Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue programme is to cover the financing of the social partners' (the trade unions and the employers (or their representative organisations) engaged in social dialogue) participation in the European employment strategy and the implementation of the Lisbon strategy, i.e. to cover grants for promoting social dialogue at cross-industry and sectoral level, promoting the financial participation of workers, improving expertise in the field of industrial relations and corporate social responsibility, and promoting equal participation of women in the decision-making bodies of both trade unions and employers' organisations. The budget for 2007 is 14,908,000.
	The purpose of the Information and Training Measures for Workers' Organisation programme is to finance information and training measures for social partner organisations representing workers, at European, national or regional level, in order to help workers' organisations contribute to the goals of the Lisbon Strategy. The budget for 2007 is 16,400,000.

EC Common Foreign and Security Policy: Ministers

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's position is on the proposed EU Foreign Minister; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: There is at present no consensus among EU partners on the way forward regarding the constitutional treaty or any new treaty including a proposed EU Foreign Minister. These issues will be discussed at the European Council in June. It is too early to speculate regarding the outcome of these discussions. The Government's approach to these discussions was set out in my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe's written ministerial statement of 5 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 10-11WS.

EC Countries: Diplomatic Service

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which European Union countries the UK does not remit to the local tax authorities income tax, or sums in lieu of income tax, collected in respect of locally engaged British embassy staff; in which EU countries there are different arrangements for those locally engaged staff who are  (a) UK citizens,  (b) citizens of the host EU country and  (c) citizens of a third country; and what the reasons are for such differences.

Geoff Hoon: Consistent with global diplomatic practice, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) policy is that to the extent compatible with local law, local staff should take responsibility for their own income tax arrangements. The differences in arrangements between FCO missions are determined by local tax regulations, which vary from country to country. The following table summarises the current position in FCO missions in the EU.
	Staff without income tax liability in the host country, including some UK and third country nationals, have their salaries abated. The aim is that staff with and without liability to pay income tax should receive comparable take home pay.
	
		
			   UK missions who act as a withholding agent for income tax on local staff salaries  Local staff who are UK citizens (and have no local liability)  Local staff who are citizens of the host country 
			 Austria No Abated Individual responsibility. 
			 Belgium No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Bulgaria Yes Abated Pay as you earn (PAYE) 
			 Cyprus Yes Abated PAYE 
			 Czech Republic No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Denmark No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Estonia Yes No UK citizens PAYE 
			 Finland No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 France No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Germany No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Greece Yes All staff have local liability PAYE 
			 Hungary No Currently being revised to bring it in line with Hungarian law Individual responsibility 
			 Ireland No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Italy Yes Abated PAYE 
			 Latvia Yes No UK citizens PAYE 
			 Lithuania Yes Abated PAYE 
			 Luxembourg No Abated Abated 
			 Malta No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Netherlands No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Poland No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Portugal No Abated Individual responsibility 
			 Romania Yes Abated PAYE 
			 Slovakia No All staff have local liability Individual responsibility 
			 Slovenia Yes All staff have local liability Individual responsibility 
			 Spain No All staff have local liability Individual responsibility 
			 Sweden No All staff have local liability Individual responsibility

EC Countries: Diplomatic Service

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which European Union countries the UK does not remit to the local tax authorities income tax, or sums in lieu of income tax, collected in respect of locally engaged British Council staff; in which EU countries there are different arrangements in respect of local engaged staff who are  (a) UK citizens,  (b) those who are citizens of the host EU country and  (c) citizens of a third country; and what the reasons are for such differences.

Geoff Hoon: Locally-engaged staff of the British Council are employees who are either nationals of the host-country, UK nationals based in the country who are contracted on local terms or nationals of a third country who are contracted on local terms. The following table summarises the current position of locally-engaged British Council employees in the EU with respect to personal income tax. There are no differences in practice across the three categories of locally-engaged staff; although some local regulations will differ between countries.
	
		
			   Income tax paid for locally- engaged staff 
			  Country  W ho are UK citizens  W ho are citizens of the host country  W ho are citizens of a third country 
			 Austria Yes. By Pay as you earn (PAYE) Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Belgium .Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PA YE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Bulgaria n/a Yes. By PAYE n/a 
			 Cyprus Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Czech Republic Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Denmark n/a Yes. By PAYE n/a 
			 
			 Estonia n/a Yes. By PAYE n/a 
			 Finland n/a Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 France Individual responsibility Individual responsibility. Individual responsibility 
			 Germany Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Greece Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Hungary Individual responsibility. (Under Double Taxation Treaty a UK citizen does not pay personal income tax for first two years). After that rules apply as for Hungarian citizens. Currently being revised to bring it in line with Hungarian law. Individual responsibility 
			 Ireland n/a Yes. By PAYE n/a 
			 Italy Yes By PAYE Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Latvia n/a Individual responsibility n/a 
			 Lithuania n/a Yes. By PAYE n/a 
			 Malta n/a Yes By PAYE n/a 
			 Netherlands Yes. By PA YE Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Poland Yes. By PA YE Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Portugal Individual responsibility Individual responsibility n/a 
			 Romania n/a Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Slovakia Yes. By PA YE Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Slovenia n/a Yes. By PA YE n/a 
			 Spain Yes. By PA YE Yes. By PAYE Yes. By PAYE 
			 Sweden Yes. At present responsibility passed to staff, but moving to PAYE. Yes. At present responsibility passed to staff, but moving to PAYE. Yes. At present responsibility passed to staff, but moving to PAYE. 
			 n/a = means the British Council has no employees in this category, but that there would be no difference in treatment between them and other LE staff in that country if there were.

EC Justice and Home Affairs: Qualified Majority Voting

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's position is on the use of qualified majority voting for judicial co-operation in criminal matters and police and customs co-operation; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: The proposed use of the Article 42 passerelle, which provides for the Council to decide, under unanimity, to transfer elements of the field of Justice and Home Affairs from the third pillar, Treaty on European Union, to the first pillar (Treaty on European Community, where qualified majority voting is the norm) was discussed during the Finnish presidency in the latter half of last year. However, discussions at the September, October and December 2006 Justice and Home Affairs Councils, and at the December 2006 European Council, showed that there was very limited support among member states for the proposal, and we consider the debate on the use of the passerelle to be over. I refer the right hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Joan Ryan) on 18 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 123-126WS.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the charge was for a student visa in each of the last five years for which figures are available; how many student visas were granted in each of these years; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The current fee for a student visa is 99. From 1 July 2005 to 31 March 2007 the fee for a student visa was 85. Between 1 July 2002 and 30 June 2005 the fee was 36. Prior to this, the fee was 33.
	The number of student visas issued each financial year since 2001-02:
	
		
			  Financial year  Student visas issued 
			 2005-06 194,827 
			 2004-05 182,409 
			 2003-04 146,538 
			 2002-03 128,144 
			 2001-02 121,466 
		
	
	Comprehensive student visa statistics for the last five years are available on the UKvisas website at:
	www.ukvisas.gov.uk

Ethiopia: Kidnapping

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has made to the Eritrean government concerning the eight Ethiopians captured with the group of five British embassy workers on 1 March 2007.

Margaret Beckett: I am delighted with the news that the Ethiopians that were abducted with our embassy officials and family members on 2 March in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia have now been released.
	Following the release on 13 March of our embassy staff and family members, our ambassador in Asmara made representations to senior officials in the Eritrea Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Officials in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office also raised the abduction of the Ethiopians with the Eritrean ambassador and a senior official from the Eritrea Ministry of Foreign Affairs in London on 10 April.

Ethiopia: Kidnapping

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports she has received on the condition of the eight Ethiopians captured along with a group of five British embassy workers on 1 March 2007; and what steps the Government are taking to secure their release.

Margaret Beckett: I am delighted with the news that the Ethiopians that were abducted with our embassy officials and family members on 2 March in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia have now been released. We have not yet received any reports on the condition of the abducted Ethiopians.
	Since the first release of five of the captives on 13 March, we continued to work for the release of the Ethiopians.
	On 13 March, I issued a press statement and called for the release of the Ethiopians. Our ambassador in Addis Ababa did the same in his own press statement on 27 March. Throughout, Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials and our embassies in Asmara and Addis Ababa maintained active contact with the Governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia over the continued abduction of the Ethiopians.

Ethiopia: Kidnapping

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had with her French and Italian counterparts on the eight Ethiopians captured with the group of five British embassy workers on 1 March 2007; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: I am delighted with the news that the Ethiopians that were abducted with our embassy officials and family members on 2 March in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia have now been released.
	I had no direct contact on this with my French or Italian counterparts. However, our ambassador in Addis Ababa had discussions with the French and Italian ambassadors in Addis Ababa during the time when the Ethiopians were held captive. The French and Italian ambassadors joined our ambassador when he issued a press statement on Ethiopian television on 27 March calling for the release of the abducted Ethiopians.
	Following the release on 13 March of our five embassy officials and family members from our embassy in Addis Ababa, senior officials in London and our embassies in Asmara and Addis Ababa maintained active contact with the Governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia over the continued abduction of the Ethiopians.

European Constitution Treaty

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs by what criteria the Government will judge whether a new EU Treaty would merit a referendum; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: There is at present no consensus among EU partners on the way forward regarding the Constitutional Treaty or any new Treaty. These issues will be discussed at the European Council in June. It is too early to speculate regarding the outcome of these discussions. The Government's approach to these discussions was set out in my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe's written ministerial statement of 5 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 10-11WS.

European Constitution Treaty

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which proposals contained in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe the Government have communicated to European partners that it would not support in any new EU Treaty with the aim of placing the European Union on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament elections in 2009; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: There is at present no consensus among EU partners on the way forward regarding the Constitutional Treaty or any new Treaty. These issues will be discussed at the European Council in June. It is too early to speculate regarding the outcome of these discussions. The Government's approach was set out in my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe's written ministerial statement of 5 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 10-11WS.

European Constitution Treaty

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what objectives the Government are seeking to achieve in any new EU Treaty with the aim of placing the European Union on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament elections in 2009; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: There is at present no consensus among EU partners on the way forward regarding the Constitutional Treaty or any new Treaty. These issues will be discussed at the European Council in June. It is too early to speculate regarding the outcome of these discussions. The Government's approach to these discussions was set out in my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe's written ministerial statement of 5 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 10-11WS. Its six principles are: pursuing British interests, a modern and effective EU, consensus among 27 member states, emphasis on subsidiarity, making best use of existing Treaties, and openness to global change.

European Council

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will place in the Library a copy of the letter sent by the German presidency on bilateral consultations to be held between 23 April and 4 May in preparation for the report the presidency will submit to the June European Council.

Margaret Beckett: At the June European Council, the German presidency will present a reportbased on extensive consultations with member statesassessing the state of discussions on the constitutional treaty and exploring possible future developments.
	Discussions are currently under way. The Government do not release presidency papers relating to ongoing discussions.

European Council

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's position is on the proposed permanent President of the European Council; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: There is at present no consensus among EU partners on the way forward regarding the constitutional treaty or any new treaty including a proposed permanent President of the European Council. These issues will be discussed at the European Council in June. It is too early to speculate regarding the outcome of these discussions. The Government's approach to these discussions was set out in my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe's written ministerial statement of 5 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 10-11WS.

International Co-operation: Drugs

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps she is taking to improve co-ordination between the US and UK on drug eradication policy and operations.

Kim Howells: There is regular UK and US engagement on all aspects of international efforts to combat the production and trafficking of illicit drugs. Policies are tailored to meet the specific situation in each country where we are engaged.
	In the Western hemisphere, the main coca producing counties are Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. The UK believes that eradication plays an important part alongside other measures to combat cocaine production. However, unlike the US, we are not currently providing funding for eradication in the region.
	In the Eastern hemisphere, Afghanistan is the main producer of opium poppy. Eradication policy and its implementation are the responsibility of the Afghan Government, and is one of the eight pillars of their National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS). In the NDCS, eradication should be targeted in areas where there is access to legal rural livelihoods. The UK and US work closely to help the Afghan Government deliver on all aspects of the NDCS, including eradication.

Iran: Export Credit Guarantees

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the role is of the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs in relation to decisions to approve export credit guarantees to companies trading with Iran; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: My right hon. Friend the Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, Ian McCartney, is the Departmental Minister for the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD). He has been consulted by ECGD on export credit policy for Iran. ECGD is required to consult Ministers before approving any applications for Iran.

Iraq: Biological Weapons

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the oral answer to the hon. Member for Billericay of 2 May 2007,  Official Report, columns 1505-06, on which occasions Saddam Hussein used biological weapons against  (a) Iraqi people and  (b) other people.

Kim Howells: The findings of the Iraq Survey Group (ISO), which included key findings on Iraq's biological weapons programme, noted that a secretive team developed assassination instruments using poisons or toxins for the Iraqi state and that a small group of scientists, doctors and technicians conducted secret experiments on human beings, resulting in their deaths. The ISG concluded that testing on humans continued until the mid-1990s.
	We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein used biological weapons against non-Iraqis. However, the ISG noted that he personally authorised the use of biological weapons against Israel, Saudi Arabia and US forces and that he envisaged all-out use, for example, all Israeli cities were to be struck.
	The full text of the ISG report can be found on the United States Government website at:
	https://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/.

Iraq-Kuwait Conflict: Compensation

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2007,  Official Report, columns 914-15W, on the Iraq-Kuwait conflict: compensation, what measures the UN expects to be undertaken to recover monies overpaid to claimants.

Kim Howells: The Governing Council of the UN Compensation Commission has asked that best efforts be made by all concerned governments to seek to recover relevant overpayments from affected claimants and for governments to report back before the next Governing Council in June.

Iraq-Kuwait Conflict: Compensation

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2007,  Official Report, columns 914-15W, on the Iraq-Kuwait conflict: compensation, how much compensation was paid to claimants; and how much was overpayment.

Kim Howells: Nearly 5,000 UK claimants have so far received disbursements of varying amounts totalling US$428 million from the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) through the Government.
	The UNCC has identified the sum of US$391,000 as the total amount of overpayment to UK claimants. To provide the information requested for each claimant would require the permission of each individual company and institution concerned. It is therefore not possible to provide such information without incurring disproportionate cost.

Iraq-Kuwait Conflict: Compensation

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2007,  Official Report, columns 914-15W, on the Iraq-Kuwait conflict: compensation, what part the UK played in discussions on the consensus in the UN Compensation Commission Governing Council on the best efforts approach.

Kim Howells: The UK, as one of the permanent members of the Governing Council, played a full role in discussions and supported the decisions taken by general consensus in response to the UN Compensation Commission's investigation of duplicate and overpaid claims, including the adoption of a best efforts approach for concerned governments to seek the recovery of overpayments from affected claimants.

Iraq-Kuwait Conflict: Compensation

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2007,  Official Report, columns 914-15W, on the Iraq-Kuwait conflict: compensation, when the UN Compensation Commission made the decision to request recovery of overpayments; and what representations the UK made when it was informed of the decision.

Kim Howells: The UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) Governing Council, at its 61st session in November 2006, adopted 22,000 corrections to awards identified during its investigation into duplicate claims and decided to request governments concerned to seek recovery of relevant overpayments from affected claimants. The same best efforts approach has been adopted for all corrections adopted by the UNCC in response to its investigation.
	As one of the permanent members of the Governing Council the UK supported the general consensus to adopt a best efforts approach to the recovery of overpayments.

Iraq-Kuwait Conflict: Compensation

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2007,  Official Report, columns 914-15W, on the Iraq-Kuwait conflict: compensation, whether the Government will be responsible for repaying any overpayment not recovered from individuals.

Kim Howells: No. The Government are required to use their best efforts to contact and seek to recoup overpaid amounts totalling US$391,000 from 113 affected UK claimants.

Italy: Diplomatic Service

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much income tax or money in lieu of income tax was collected in respect of  (a) UK citizens and  (b) non-UK citizens who were locally engaged staff in the UK's embassy in Italy in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; what value of these deductions was (i) remitted to the Italian tax authorities, (ii) remitted to the UK's Inland Revenue, (iii) retained by the UK's embassy in Italy and (iv) remitted to London and retained by her Department in each year; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: The Italy-UK Double Taxation Agreement 1988 exempts those staff employed on Government service who are British but not Italian from local income tax. Our embassy in Rome remitted to the Italian authorities the amounts shown as follows on behalf of their non-UK local staff from 1999-2006. No figures are available before 1999. Staff without local liability for income tax in the host country, including some UK and third country nationals, have their salaries abated. When salaries are abated no monies are remitted to either Italian or UK authorities, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, instead the salaries are determined on a net basis.
	
		
			
			 1999 329,492.00 
			 2000 337,291.00 
			 2001 345,297.00 
			 2002 405,732.00 
			 2003 406,774.00 
			 2004 455,132.00 
			 2005 435,913.00 
			 2006 453,588.00

Italy: Diplomatic Service

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to what extent the rates and scale of deductions from pay in respect of or in lieu of tax on income are different for locally engaged staff employed in the UK's embassy in Italy who are UK citizens and those who are not UK citizens; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: In our embassy in Rome the same rates and scales of income tax on salaries and abatement in lieu of income tax apply to local staff who are UK citizens and those who are not UK citizens.
	The 2007 rates below are based on current Italian personal income tax rates:
	
		
			  Salary scale ()  Tax bands (percentage) 
			 0-15,000.00 23 
			 15,000.00-28,000.00 27 
			 28,000.00-55.000.00 38 
			 55,000.00-75,000.00 41 
			 75,000.00 plus 43

Italy: Diplomatic Service

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much income tax or money in lieu of income tax was collected in respect of  (a) UK citizens and  (b) non-UK citizens who were locally engaged staff in the British Council in Italy in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; what value of these deductions was (i) remitted to the Italian tax authorities, (ii) remitted to HM Revenue and Customs, (iii) retained by the British Council in Rome and (iv) remitted to London and retained by her Department in each year; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: Locally-engaged staff of the British Council in Italy are contracted on local terms.
	UK citizens and non-UK citizens who have been locally-engaged by the British Council in Italy have always paid income tax to the local authorities in line with the requirements of Italian law. No money in lieu of income tax was collected by the British Council in respect of staff who were locally engaged by the British Council in Italy.
	The following income tax payments were remitted to the Italian authorities:
	
		
			
			 1999 351,199.80 
			 2000 407,006.10 
			 2001 360,534.00 
			 2002 392,345.00 
			 2003 342,681.00 
			 2004 382,444.00 
			 2005 516,404.00 
			 2006 621,416.00 
		
	
	Accurate information has been provided on the actual amounts of personal income tax paid on behalf of locally-engaged staff for the last seven years. In the limited time available to retrieve this data, in some cases from the tax authorities themselves, it has not been possible to disaggregate the data into UK and non-UK citizens, not the least because financial data does not differentiate by nationality, but rather by contract type.
	All deductions were consistent with Italian law and have been remitted to the Italian tax authorities for at least the last 10 years:
	the employment of all staff who are locally-engaged by the British Council in Italy falls under Italian jurisdiction. There is therefore no question of money being remitted to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs;
	all money collected as income tax for locally-engaged UK and non-UK citizens was paid to the local authorities in line with the requirements of Italian law. None was retained by the British Council in Rome; and
	no money collected as income tax for locally-engaged UK and non-UK citizens employed in Italy was remitted to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.

Libyan Arab Republic: Immigration

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support the UK has given to Libya in helping to prevent immigration of Africans to the EU through its borders and ports.

Kim Howells: Preventing the transit of irregular migrants from Africa through Libya is a key priority for both the UK and Libya. Dr. Ali Errishi, the Libyan Migration Minister, met Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Home Office Ministers in the UK on 24-26 April to discuss migration issues. UK and Libyan officials are working together to identify projects for co-operation.

Non-Proliferation Treaty

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the UK's priorities are for the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in Vienna, 30 April to 11 May.

Margaret Beckett: The United Kingdom's priority for the Preparatory Committee is establishing the basis for strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and the wider nuclear non-proliferation regime over the course of this review cycle. There are a number of specific issues on which useful work could be undertaken, many of which were set out in the EU Common Position agreed for the 2005 Review Conference and remain outstanding. It will be important to build consensus on these areas, and any new workstreams, in this and future Preparatory Committees. We hope that this process will culminate in a substantive final document being agreed at the 2010 NPT Review Conference.

Prism Information System

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Prism information system is fully operational.

Geoff Hoon: The global rollout of Prism has been completed, the implementation programme closed at the end of March, and Prism is now fully operational.

Somalia

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs who represented the British Government at the April meeting of the International Contact Group on Somalia (ICGS); when the ICGS is next due to meet; and who she expects to represent the British Government at the next meeting.

Margaret Beckett: At the International Contact Group meeting held in Cairo on 3 April, the Government were represented by senior officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development. It was agreed that the UK should host the next meeting. No firm dates have been agreed and no decision has been taken about the level of UK representation.

Somalia

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what issues were discussed at the April meeting of the International Contact Group on Somalia; what the outcome was of those discussions; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: A range of political, security and developmental issues relating to the future of Somalia were discussed at the International Contact Group meeting held in Cairo on 3 April. Discussion focussed on recent violence in Somalia, the humanitarian situation, the African Union's mission to Somalia and progress in the political and reconciliation process. The outcome of the discussions on these points are summarised in the official Communiqu of the meeting. A copy of the Communiqu will be placed in the Library of the House.

Somalia

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports she has received of the role of Somalia's clans and tribal groups in the peace process; what assessment she has made of whether political consensus can be achieved across the different clans and tribal groups; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: A broad base of support within Somalia's complex clan structure is crucial to a lasting peace in Somalia. Therefore, it is vital that the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) reaches out to all the clans and lends a fully inclusive political process. We are stressing this in our contacts with the TFG, for example when my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, met President Yusuf in London on 22 February. We are urging the TFG to convene as soon as possible the National Reconciliation Congress, to involve all clans. We are encouraging other members of the international community to do likewise and we strongly endorse the Communiqu of 3 April from the International Contact Group on Somalia, of which the UK is member. The Communiqu emphasises the paramount importance of establishing an inclusive and genuine political process reaching out to all parts of Somali society.

Somalia

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress was made towards securing financial and logistical support for the African Union Mission in Somalia at the April meeting of the International Contact Group in Somalia (ICGS); what contributions  (a) the United Kingdom and  (b) other ICGS countries have pledged; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: At its meeting in Cairo on 3 April, the International Contact Group emphasised the role of the African Union (AU) Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the training of all-inclusive Somali security forces and reiterated the need for funding and logistical and technical support to the AU and troop contributing countries.
	The UK has provided a range of logistical and planning assistance to the AU. We have also offered financial and logistical support to several countries which intend to contribute troops. With strong support from the UK, the European Union has agreed to provide 15 million. Consistent with the conclusions of the International Contact Group, the UK is encouraging other countries to support AMISOM both financially and logistically.

Somalia

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the humanitarian impact of the recent violence in Somalia; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: The Government are very concerned about the humanitarian situation in Somalia and continues to monitor the situation closely.
	In its Communiqu of 3 April, the International Contact Group on Somalia, of which the UK is a member, demanded that all parties in Somalia guarantee the safety and security for all humanitarian agencies and relief work in Somalia. The UK continues to stress this point in its contacts with parties in Somalia.
	The UK was the second largest bilateral humanitarian donor to Somalia in 2006 and committed 16 million towards emergency relief activities through the UN and non-governmental organisation partners.

Somalia: Refugees

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of refugees leaving Somalia; what discussions she has had with her  (a) Kenyan and  (b) Ethiopian counterparts about the treatment of refugees from Somalia; what the outcome was of those discussions; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: We are very concerned about the plight of Somali refugees and internally displaced persons in Kenya and on the Kenya/Somalia border. I refer the hon. Member to the answer my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe gave to him on 16 April 2007,  Official Report, column 45W, for our estimate on those displaced by the current upsurge in violence.
	We understand that the Kenyan border remains closed to Somalis seeking to leave the country. Our high commissioner in Nairobi has raised the issue with the Kenyan Foreign Minister, emphasising the need to allow humanitarian access across the border, while recognising Kenya's legitimate security concerns. We are maintaining close contact with the Kenyan Government and with the United Nations and other international agencies in Kenya on this issue.
	We are not aware of significant numbers of Somali refugees in Ethiopia and therefore have not raised this issue with the Ethiopian Government.

Sudan: Armed Conflict

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what UK policy is on the creation of a no-fly zone over Darfur; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: We remain deeply concerned by the situation in Darfur. We are discussing new measures in the UN Security Council which include targeted sanctions against individuals engaged in violence or responsible for authorising it, an extension of the arms embargo to cover the whole of Sudan and measures to allow better air monitoring of the violence in Darfur. We continue to consider the possibility of imposing a no fly zone.

Sudan: Armed Conflict

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made by the UN Panel of Experts in identifying individuals responsible for breaching the arms embargo against Darfur.

Margaret Beckett: The UN Panel of Experts for Sudan was established by UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1591 (2005). The panel is mandated to assist the Security Council's Sanctions Committee for Sudan in monitoring implementation of the travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo. The panel reports to the Sanctions Committee on a regular basis.
	The panel has gathered information on individuals who have impeded the peace process according to the criteria it sets out in Annex II of the Panel's Interim Report of 16 March for monitoring pursuance of UNSCR 1591. The panel provides this information confidentially to the UN Sanctions Committee for consideration.
	The UK is supportive of the principle of extending targeted sanctions, as part of a package of further sanctions, to pressure the Government of Sudan and rebel movements to abide by their agreements, including for breach of the arms embargo.

Sudan: Armed Conflict

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with her US counterparts on proposals to impose a no-fly zone over Darfur; and what the outcome was of those discussions.

Margaret Beckett: We remain deeply concerned by the situation in Darfur. We are discussing new measures with the US and others in the UN Security Council which include targeted sanctions against individuals engaged in violence or responsible for authorising it, an extension of the arms embargo to cover the whole of Sudan and measures to allow better air monitoring of the violence in Darfur. We continue to consider the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone.

Sudan: Armed Conflict

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with her European counterparts regarding the possibility of imposing restrictions on Euro transactions in Sudan; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: I have had no discussions with my European counterparts on the possibility of imposing restrictions on Euro transactions in Sudan. I am concerned that any coercive measures should impact on those in Sudan who have responsibility for violence in Darfur. I am considering further targeted sanctions against individuals and an extension of the UN arms embargo for Sudan in line with the EU arms embargo.

Sudan: Human Rights

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the UK is advocating at  (a) European and  (b) UN level on the recommendations of the report of 12 March of the UN Human Rights Council Mission to Sudan.

Margaret Beckett: The situation in Darfur remains characterised by gross and systematic violations of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law. This was reaffirmed by the report of the High Level Mission on Human Rights in Darfur. The report also recommended more effective protection through the deployment of the UN/African Union peacekeeping force and more human rights monitors; a ceasefire and negotiated peace; effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and ongoing donor support; and tackling impunity, including through Government of Sudan co-operation with the International Criminal Court.
	The United Kingdom, along with our EU Partners, played a key role in ensuring the adoption of a resolution by the UN Human Rights Council on 30 March supporting the implementation of the mission's recommendations. The resolution also created an implementation mechanism to work to ensure that the Government of Sudan implements all existing UN recommendations on human rights in Darfur. This mechanism will report to the fifth session of the Human Rights Council, 11-18 June 2007.
	The EU, through the General Affairs and External Relations Council, has welcomed the report of the UN's High Level Mission and has urged the Government of Sudan to fully co-operate with them.

Sudan: Human Rights

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what UK policy is on  (a) UN measures against individuals or groups committing human rights violations and  (b) the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement as set out in paragraph 14 on UN Security Council Resolution 1706.

Margaret Beckett: The UK pressed for the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1591 in 2005 which declared that all states shall freeze assets of, and refuse travel to, individuals identified by the Security Council to have committed human rights violations or impeded the peace process. UNSCR 1672 imposed sanctions against four individuals.
	Only a political process can solve the crisis in Darfur. We have been funding work to help the African Union (AU) explain the benefits of the Darfur Peace Agreement to the people of Darfur. And we are funding an expert to support the AU in preparing the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation. A renewed political process led by the AU-UN, which brings in as broad a range of the Darfur population as possible, is needed.
	The Government of Sudan and rebel movements must abide by their agreements urgently, which include accepting the rapid deployment of a full AU-UN hybrid force, an immediate ceasefire and a resumption of the political process. If they do not, we will be forced to press for tougher measures, including further targeted sanctions.

Sudan: Peace Keeping Operations

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether she expects the deployment of the United Nations assistance to the African Union Mission in Sudan to take place following the letter from the Government of Sudan confirming their agreement.

Margaret Beckett: I welcomed the Sudanese Government's acceptance of the UN's Heavy Support Package for Darfur at a Security Council meeting on Darfur on 16 April. However, it is only a step towards the full African Union (AU)-UN hybrid operation that was agreed last November in Addis Ababa. We are pressing the AU and UN to deploy as soon as possible, and expect the Sudanese to honour their commitments throughout implementation of both the Heavy Support Package and hybrid force.

Sudan: Peace Keeping Operations

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether her policy has changed on pursuing a UN Security Council Resolution on Sudan following the letter from the Government of Sudan confirming its agreement on the UN heavy support package to the African Union Mission in Sudan.

Margaret Beckett: I chaired an informal meeting of the UN Security Council on 16 April which welcomed the Sudanese Government's agreement to the UN's Heavy Support Package. However, this is only a step forward and now is not the time to ease off the pressure. We will test the Sudanese Government's commitment to implement the Heavy Support Package and are pressing them to agree to a joint African Union/UN hybrid force. If the Sudanese Government and rebels do not co-operate, we must be prepared to introduce tougher sanctions.

Zimbabwe

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government plans to raise Zimbabwe at the UN Security Council in light of recent violence against the Zimbabwean opposition; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply that I gave on 29 March 2007,  Official Report, column 1779W to the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Mr. Moore).
	Further to this, I can confirm that the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs briefed the UN Security Council in New York on the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe on 29 March.
	On the same day, the UK and EU made statements at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva expressing deep concern at events in Zimbabwe and urging the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit Zimbabwe and report back to the Human Rights Council at its sixth session.

Zimbabwe

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 29 March 2007,  Official Report, column 1779W, on Zimbabwe, when the UK plans to propose to EU partners that the key perpetrators of the violence on 11 March 2007 should be added to the list of those subject to a visa ban and assets freeze.

Margaret Beckett: The EU visa ban and assets freeze list was extended by five names on 16 April. The UK proposal to EU partners to add certain identified key perpetrators of the violence on 11 March to the EU list was discussed by EU Foreign Ministers on 23 April. It was agreed that a further two names would be added.

HEALTH

Alzheimer's Disease: Drugs

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the evidential basis was for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's decision that anti-dementia medicines should not be made available for NHS patients with newly diagnosed mild Alzheimer's disease.

Caroline Flint: Full details of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE) appraisal of anti-dementia treatments is published at:
	http://guidance.nice.org.uk/cg42
	NICE's appraisal methodology is also published at:
	www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=howwework.

Autism: Research

Martin Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to provide funding for biomedical research into autistic spectrum disorders; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Department's National Institute for Health Research intends this year to award a programme grant to support research aimed at developing better services and treatments for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at the point of transition from childhood to adulthood. Research on ASD will also form part of the work programme of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and Institute of Psychiatry Biomedical Research Centre that the Department is funding from April 2007.
	The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of the main agencies through which the Government support biomedical research. The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Innovation.
	The MRC has recently expanded its research portfolio in ASD. For example, it has recently funded research that will explore the link between individual differences in fetal testosterone levels and factors of postnatal behavioural development that in extreme form can be thought of as autistic traits.
	Along with other agencies, the MRC has also agreed funding for the Autism Genome Project that will be led by an international consortium headed by Professor Tony Monaco. As well as progressing understanding of the molecular genetic basis of ASD, this research might benefit international autism research by generating possibilities for other genetic epidemiological approaches, neuroimaging and behavioural studies.

Chester-le-Street Community Hospital

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2007,  Official Report, column 956W, on Chester-le-Street community hospital, for what reasons her Department was able to inform the office of the hon. Member for North Durham on 6 March that the visit was to take place; and for what reasons her answer did not include the cost of the visit.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 27 April 2007
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 April 2007,  Official Report, column 956W. On 7 March County Durham primary care trust (PCT), having been approached by NHS North East, suggested that Secretary of State visit Chester-le-Street community hospital. Shortly after that, on the same day, the Department informed the office of the hon. Member for North Durham that the Secretary of State would visit County Durham on 9 March and stated that we would contact the office of the hon. Member for North Durham should the situation change. The Secretary of State confirmed the programme and final details for the visit on 8 March and the PCT was subsequently notified. She undertook the visit on 9 March. The cost of the visit was in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.

Circumcision

Daniel Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many circumcisions were funded by the NHS in each primary care trust in each year since 1997, broken down by age; and what the average cost to the NHS was of a circumcision in each year, broken down by age group.

Caroline Flint: This information is not collected centrally. We can provide the following information from the annual NHS reference costs, which show the unit costs of national health service treatments and procedures. Circumcision falls in the category of penis, minor open procedure.
	
		
			   Penis  minor open procedure   69 or w cc complications  Penis  minor open procedure  70 w/o cc complications 
			   Total  finished consultant episodes  National average ()  Total  finished consultant episodes  National average () 
			  Elective in-patient HRG data 
			 1998 141 557 2,304 513 
			 1999 1,186 687 5,257 612 
			 2000 1,164 710 4,244 669 
			 2001 1,301 825 4,081 691 
			 2002 1,339 933 4,234 772 
			 2003 1,485 931 4,409 829 
			 2004 1,543 946 4,275 872 
			 2005 1,591 1,083 4,044 969 
			 2005-06 1,595 1,125 3,684 1,050 
			  
			  Non-elective in-patient HRG data 
			 1998 35 977 391 548 
			 1999 348 809 1,246 677 
			 2000 343 801 1,166 740 
			 2001 363 836 1,190 767 
			 2002 421 946 1,240 897 
			 2003 405 1,162 1,140 995 
			 2004 403 1,011 1,174 902 
			 2005 429 1,150 1,179 1,041 
			 2005-06 399 1,231 1,062 1,155 
			  
			  Day Cases 
			 1998 346 318 15,288 373 
			 1999 1,193 312 24,596 357 
			 2000 1,191 356 21,102 419 
			 2001 1,083 409 21,194 458 
			 2002 1,222 507 21,261 521 
			 2003 1,298 531 22,564 552 
			 2004 1,439 526 23,882 582 
			 2005 1,611 646 23,211 659 
			 2005-06 1,953 672 25,567 689 
		
	
	We can also supply the following hospital episode statistics on circumcision
	
		
			  N30.3  Operations on prepuce circumcision 
			   Finished consultant episodes  Mean age  Age 0-14  Age 15-59  Age 60-74  Age75+ 
			 1998-99 25,150 23 13,507 9,066 1,695 880 
			 1999-2000 21,824 24 11,302 8,029 1,575 910 
			 2000-01 21,827 25 10,629 8,585 1,596 997 
			 2001-02 22,438 26 10,534 8,978 1,825 1,012 
			 2002-03 23,784 27 10,911 9,739 1,998 1,124 
			 2003-04 24,341 27 10,936 10,244 2,039 1,105 
			 2004-05 24,313 27 10,643 10,369 2,115 1,164 
			 2005-06 25,224 28 10,684 11,112 2,121 1,271

Cost Shunting

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the oral answer to the hon. member for Falmouth and Camborne of 24 April 2007,  Official Report, column 777, on cost shunting, how she plans to ensure that such proposals are delivered  (a) in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and  (b) throughout the country.

Ivan Lewis: The national health service and social services have a duty to work in partnership to provide services that meet the needs of the local population. Local area agreements have been about new ways of joint working, service reconfiguration and redesign, improving the efficiency and targeting of resources and all local partners continuing to work together to deliver health and wellbeing improvements.
	Local partnerships across the country, including those in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, can use pooled budgets, under section 31 of the Health Act 1999, to deliver seamless services and develop close co-operative working. Rightly, the development of such partnerships is left to the discretion of local service providers. The latest figures show that there are 497 such partnerships operating across the country.

Departments: Ministers' Private Offices

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 18 April 2007,  Official Report, column 655W, on Departments: Ministers' private offices, if she will place in the Library a copy of the  (a) job description and  (b) person specification for the post of Diary Secretary in her private office.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 27 April 2007
	It is not appropriate to provide an individual's job description or person specification.

Departments: Risk Register

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr. Hayes) of 23 March 2007,  Official Report, column 1192W, on the Department's risk register, if she will place in the Library past copies of the risk register.

Ivan Lewis: As indicated in the previous answer copies of the risk register will not be placed in the Library, as publishing current or past risk registers would inhibit the free and frank exchange of views about significant risks and their management, and inhibit the provision of advice to Ministers.

Food: Hygiene

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what bio-security failings have been investigated by the Food Standards Agency since 2001.

Caroline Flint: I am advised that investigations into bio-security failings are not within the Food Standards Agency's remit. However, the Agency's Meat Hygiene Service enforces requirements for handling of food waste at approved slaughterhouses and cutting plants on behalf of both the Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Health Services: Private Sector

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library  (a) any Official Journal of the European Union notice for private sector involvement in supporting primary care trusts sent for publication and subsequently withdrawn and  (b) subsequent versions of that notice.

Andy Burnham: The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) notice has been placed in the Library and is available at the Department's website:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Procurementandproposals/Tenders/Informationaboutprocess/DH_4137055
	A copy of the previous OJEU notice has also been placed in the Library.

Heart Diseases: Strokes

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice her Department provides to NHS trusts on safe travelling times for  (a) heart attack and  (b) stroke patients for emergency admissions.

Rosie Winterton: The national service framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease published in March 2000 sets the standard that people thought to be suffering from heart attack should be given thrombolysis (treatment with clotbusting drugs) within 60 minutes of calling for professional help. Where the journey time to hospital is routinely more than 30 minutes, the NSF states that other models of treatment should be considered, for example pre-hospital thrombolysis.
	Angioplasty given as an emergency treatment (known as primary angioplasty) is developing as an alternative treatment to thrombolysis in some cardiac centres. No guidance has been issued on safe travelling times to receive primary angioplasty. Current evidence is that this technique leads to improved outcomes compared to thrombolysis, even if performed up to three hours from time of call for help.
	No guidance has been issued on safe travelling times for stroke patients. The Department is preparing a stroke strategy, which will include guidance on the emergency treatment of stroke.

Hospital Wards: Gender

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if she will place in the Library a copy of the report on mixed sex wards she has received from the heads of strategic health authorities;
	(2)  whether she intends to improve the target on mixed sex wards to take account of more factors.

Rosie Winterton: The target to eliminate mixed sex accommodation in 95 per cent. of trusts was achieved on time in 2002. We have not collected formal information against the target since then, and do not have any current plans to reinstate or expand this collection.
	In November 2006, David Nicholson asked strategic health authorities to review their latest information on mixed-sex accommodation and ensure it was accurate. Alongside other data, including patient environment action team reports, and findings from the Healthcare Commission inpatient survey, this information has been brought together in a comprehensive report on the situation by the chief nursing officer, which includes identification of best practice examples. Copies of the report are available in the Library.

Hospitals: Finance

Eric Martlew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of the research and development budget for London hospitals was reallocated to hospitals in the regions in each of the last three years;
	(2)  what proportion of her Department's research and development budget is allocated to  (a) London and  (b) each of the regions following her recent announcement on biomedical research centres.

Caroline Flint: Allocations from the research and development budget are made on the basis of research activity rather than a regional basis. Details of the allocations made to national health service trusts and other research active NHS organisations over the last three years are published on the Department's website
	www.dh.gov.uk.
	The distribution of the allocations has not varied significantly over this period.
	The Department's implementation of the Government's health research strategy Best Research for Best Health will deliver a funding system that is transparent, fair and sustainable and where funding better reflects research and development activity. The creation of Biomedical Research Centres alongside the expansion of national research programmes and the establishment of new funding schemes is one of the ways in which these objectives will be achieved. The transition to the new system will be complete by 2009. Further details are available on the National Institute for Health Research website
	www.nihr.ac.uk

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths have resulted from hospital-acquired infections in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; what steps she is taking to reduce these incidences; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Information on deaths from hospital acquired infections is not available. The Office for National Statistics publishes analyses of deaths in England and Wales with methicillin resistant  Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or  Clostridium difficile (C. difficile ) mentioned on the death certificate but these data do not indicate if the infection was acquired in hospital or elsewhere.
	The following tables show the latest information available on MRSA and C. difficile deaths in England and Wales.
	Reducing healthcare associated infections (HCAIs), including MRSA and  Clostridium difficile is one of just four development priorities in the operating framework for 2007-08 published in December 2006. In addition to the existing target to halve MRSA blood stream infections by 2008 the operating framework requires new local targets to significantly reduce  Clostridium difficile infections.
	In October 2006 a new statutory code of practice for the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections came into force. This requires the national health service to have appropriate management and clinical governance systems in place to deliver effective infection control and will drive up standards.
	
		
			  Number of death certificates with Staphylococcus aureus and  methicillin-resistant  Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) mentioned and as the underlying cause in England and Wales from 1996 to 2005 
			   1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			  Mentions   
			 All  Staphylococcus aureus 746 785 872 964 1,150 1,211 1,221 1,403 1,623 2,083 
			 MRSA 301 389 412 487 669 734 800 955 1,168 1,629 
			
			  Underlying cause( 1)   
			 All  Staphylococcus aureus(1) 233 241 262 268 344 436 410 493 549 641 
			 MRSA(2) 79 102 118 126 195 254 248 321 360 467 
			 (1) The inclusion of ICD-10 code A41.9 in selecting the underlying cause has resulted in small differences to data for 2001 and 2002 previously published for England and Wales in HSQ21. For the years 1996 to 2000 previously published figures incorrectly excluded deaths coded to ICD-9 code 008.4 (an addition of between 1 and 7 deaths has been made). (2) Excludes neonatal deaths  Note: England and Wales data include non-residents who died in England and Wales. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of death certificates with Clostridium difficile, mentioned and recorded Clostridium difficile as the underlying cause of death from 1999 to 2005( 1)  in England and Wales( 2) 
			   1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 Mentions 975  1,214 1,428 1,788 2,247 3,807 
			 Underlying cause(3) 531  691 756 958 1,245 2,074 
			 (1) England and Wales data include non-residents who died in England and Wales (2) All deaths in England and Wales are coded by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The Tenth revision (ICD-10) has been used by the ONS since 2001. In the Ninth revision of the ICD (ICD-9) there are no specific codes that would allow deaths mentioning C. difficile to be easily identified. Data for 2000 are therefore not available as ICD-9 was used in this year. Deaths registered in 1999 in England and Wales were coded to both ICD-9 and ICD-10 as part of a special study to compare the two ICD revisions, and have therefore been used to give an additional year of data on deaths involving C. difficile. (3) Excludes neonatal deaths

Hospitals: Telephones

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what payments her Department has made to Patientline;
	(2)  how many complaints she has received about Patientline.

Andy Burnham: The Department has not made any payments to Patientline. Contracts are agreed directly between the NHS trust and their chosen service provider. The service provider pays the costs of installation and managing the service and charges the patient directly, if they choose to use its services.
	Since August 2005, some 182 members of the public have written to the Department about integrated bedside television and telephone services. The number of complaints this correspondence may contain is not identified separately.

Medical Records: Disclosure of Information

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what  (a) central funding is planned to be made available and  (b) local funding is planned to be ring-fenced for a locally-led public information programme to inform patients about the way their healthcare information will be held and to tell patients about the right they have to limit the way their information is shared.

Caroline Flint: A public information programme about the national health service care records service (NHS CRS) will be delivered to inform patients of the changes to how their health information will be stored and accessed, and the rights and choices they will have. It has been developed by the Department's NHS Connecting for Health agency, in conjunction with key stakeholders which include clinicians and patient representative groups, and with input and advice from the Information Commissioner and the Summary Care Record Advisory Group.
	Key elements of the programme are already in place and include leaflets, posters, patient guidance, a telephone information line, and outdoor exhibition trailers. National health service organisations will be free to tailor these for local use. As a national supplier to the national programme for information technology, British Telecom has agreed to sponsor some elements of this work.
	It is not currently possible to estimate what central funding will be required to ensure delivery of the public information programme. This will depend on the number of early adopter primary care trusts that decide to implement the NHS CRS in 2007-08. Local planning and funding of implementation of the programme is a matter for individual NHS bodies.

Multiple Sclerosis: Drugs

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the availability of the drug Tysabri for the treatment of sufferers of multiple sclerosis.

Caroline Flint: Tysabri for the treatment of highly active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis is subject to a continuing appraisal by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
	Pending NICE's final guidance on Tysabri national health service bodies should continue to make local decisions on its availability, taking account of the available evidence.

NHS: Drugs

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost  (a) in total and  (b) per capita was of the drugs budget of the NHS in each of the last 15 years.

Caroline Flint: Primary care and national health service trust drugs budgets are not determined centrally. From the inception of primary care trusts in 1999-2000, trusts are responsible for setting their own budgets; decisions on the level of funding will depend on local priorities.
	The table gives the total drugs bill since 1990-91, and is broken down by primary care and the hospital and community health service (HCHS).
	The Department does not publish the drugs bill on a per capita basis. The per capita figures shown have been derived from Office National Statistics mid-year total population estimates for England, and do not take into account age related demand for drugs.
	
		
			   Total outturn ( million)  Per capita ()  O f which: primary ( million)  Per capita ()  O f which: HCHS ( million)  Per capita () 
			  Cash terms   
			 1990-91 2,540 53.3 2,080 43.6 460 9.6 
			 1991-92 2,908 60.7 2,317 48.4 591 12.3 
			 1992-93 3,284 68.4 2,641 55.0 643 13.4 
			 1993-94 3,661 76.1 2,951 61.3 710 14.8 
			 1994-95 3,994 82.8 3,230 67.0 764 15.8 
			 1995-96 4,372 90.4 3,498 72.3 874 18.1 
			 1996-97 4,735 97.6 3,774 77.8 961 19.8 
			 1997-98 5,173 106.3 4,085 83.9 1,088 22.4 
			 1998-99 5,550 113.7 4,339 88.9 1,211 24.8 
			 1999-2000 6,202 126.5 4,833 98.6 1,369 27.9 
			
			  Resource terms (from 2000-01)   
			 2000-01 6,688 135.8 5,158 104.8 1,530 31.1 
			 2001-02 7,447 150.6 5,707 115.4 1,740 35.2 
			 2002-03 8,355 168.3 6,342 127.7 2,013 40.5 
			 2003-04 9,271 186.0 6,960 139.6 2,311 46.4 
			 2004-05 9,965 198.9 7,370 147.1 2,595 51.8 
			  Notes: 1. Sources: Prescription Pricing Division of the NHS Business Services Authority, England and Department of Health Finance Division. 2. Figures are net which include Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) receipt savings. 3. The total drugs spend include drugs expenditure in primary care and the HCHS. The primary care expenditure reflects amounts paid to pharmacy and appliance contractors and amounts authorised for dispending doctors and personal administration in England. HCHS expenditure includes drugs and medical gases. 4. From 2000-01 figures are in resource terms, prior to this figures are in cash terms. Cash figures relate to February to January prescribing due to delay in prescription processing and payment calculations. Resource figures represent the actual cost between April to March.

NHS: Expenditure

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total public expenditure per head of population on the  (a) capital and  (b) running costs of the NHS was in (i) Suffolk, (ii) Bedfordshire, (iii) Cambridgeshire, (iv) Essex, (v) Hertfordshire, (vi) Norfolk and (vii) each of the English regions in each year since 1997.

Andy Burnham: Expenditure per unweighted head is shown in the following tables. It is only possible to show figures for the specified areas (based on predecessor health authority areas) up to 2001-02; after this data is shown for the relevant strategic health authority areas. Running costs are the total revenue expenditure of health authorities, strategic health authorities (SHAs) and primary care trusts (PCTs), as appropriate. Capital is the total expenditure on the purchase of fixed assets in the year by health authorities, strategic health authorities and primary care trusts, as appropriate, and by national health service trusts sited within those areas. Capital expenditure is not available for 1997-98.
	
		
			  Table 1: Running costsexpenditure per unweighted head of population 
			   1997-98  1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Suffolk 544.21 582.75 653.06 702.91 826.60 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Bedfordshire 516.99 562.92 655.08 715.39 886.01 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Cambridgeshire 504.47 548.19 661.27 697.58 812.98 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Essex 554.80 605.51 706.34 772.78 788.10 803.07 973.72 1,115.64 1,205.05 
			 Hertfordshire 590.02 616.96 689.32 736.38 996.02 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Norfolk 578.95 643.71 742.60 779.51 814.19 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 855.15 951.46 1,089.15 1,140.76 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 997.51 1,054.67 1,150.02 1,230.94 
			   
			  Strategic health authority area  
			 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 569.38 603.47 696.27 764.69 837.62 913.62 1,058.43 1,149.54 1,250.34 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 564.37 597.93 677.38 729.06 957.73 855.15 951.46 1,089.15 1,140.76 
			 Birmingham and the Black Country 627.55 699.02 777.51 826.01 1,015.54 965.01 1,169.31 1,278.32 1,413.32 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside 620.81 686.47 791.42 885.33 964.69 1,152.74 1,180.44 1,354.97 1,489.65 
			 County Durham and Tees Valley 596.10 664.12 792.22 850.91 932.33 1,084.31 1,192.95 1,337.34 1,446.69 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire 601.03 679.92 819.63 894.22 962.68 1,215.84 1,277.22 1,260.32 1,337.44 
			 Dorset and Somerset 579.03 618.90 715.61 915.78 1,123.84 797.80 1,012.24 1,146.10 1,240.25 
			 Essex 576.84 605.51 706.34 772.78 788.10 803.07 973.72 1,115.64 1,205.05 
			 Greater Manchester 616.28 675.64 786.41 850.27 939.33 1,070.68 1,220.29 1,326.87 1,461.08 
			 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 558.15 594.08 667.29 729.88 885.43 865.41 1,021.94 1,146.79 1,224.35 
			 Kent and Medway 576.63 609.94 735.76 758.42 810.67 867.94 976.86 1,123.55 1,207.09 
			 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland 541.85 590.17 696.68 728.53 811.57 870.92 981.90 1,093.20 1,208.89 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire 548.45 596.71 687.07 727.78 817.70 997.51 1,054.67 1,150.02 1,230.94 
			 North and East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire 575.79 640.25 726.01 771.23 849.87 906.27 1,001.51 1,142.03 1,255.92 
			 North Central London 730.48 815.11 914.53 1,078.17 1,105.05 1,394.68 1,415.81 1,550.81 1,646.23 
			 North East London 703.32 786.51 912.88 981.73 1,060.50 1,111.02 1,303.88 1,428.90 1,554.06 
			 North West London 735.84 799.16 895.91 962.95 1,044.04 1,198.62 1,335.59 1,440.70 1,498.50 
			 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 649.89 719.64 842.77 890.61 985.49 1,094.71 1,202.15 1,351.37 1,479.08 
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire 573.17 598.72 694.25 740.03 923.09 870.69 975.36 1,132.57 1,225.95 
			 South East London 705.15 788.22 940.51 1,009.23 1,092.94 1,207.78 1,348.69 1,503.33 1,607.41 
			 South West London 660.35 709.31 826.66 884.90 948.29 1,039.46 1,172.11 1,283.18 1,354.39 
			 South West Peninsula 598.79 635.87 745.47 796.01 851.11 985.33 1,060.87 1,204.71 1,311.96 
			 South Yorkshire 676.41 738.73 878.70 926.77 1,018.92 1,143.82 1,256.73 1,412.39 1,526.66 
			 Surrey and Sussex 618.46 656.23 780.66 815.77 903.64 960.55 1,097.02 1J81.31 1,260.91 
			 Thames Valley 519.76 544.01 626.46 685.84 772.39 786.00 959.52 1,066.88 1,122.22 
			 Trent 575.53 636.93 720.04 775.60 936.51 842.41 1,044.16 1,157.56 1,260.38 
			 West Midlands South 594.38 623.80 714.92 753.76 840.65 880.32 975.04 1,109.93 1,219.27 
			 West Yorkshire 627.04 677.70 773.71 831.40 899.83 1,025.71 1,151.63 1,269.29 1,390.17 
			 England 607.85 659.76 763.79 825.38 926.13 991.07 1,116.32 1,236.10 1,334.99 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Capitalexpenditure per unweighted head of population 
			   1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Suffolk 11.17 10.30 20.84 16.07 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Bedfordshire 28.11 13.56 27.98 47.40 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Cambridgeshire 25.90 27.56 47.65 36.70 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Essex 14.81 28.44 37.82 50.83 43.22 55.57 48.42 60.50 
			 Hertfordshire 20.41 14.78 24.92 40.07 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Norfolk 7.48 11.42 24.23 37.27 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire n/a n/a n/a n/a 20.96 44.43 26.51 35.29 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire n/a n/a n/a n/a 82.43 52.51 33.88 28.28 
			  
			  Strategic health authority area 
			 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 32.77 65.96 31.97 54.42 50.76 43.49 33.93 36.20 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 23.12 14.97 25.99 42.62 20.96 44.43 26.51 35.29 
			 Birmingham and the Black Country 25.67 28.58 33.79 40.34 70.85 77.12 64.38 35.41 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside 24.72 19.28 29.37 51.97 82.59 58.91 67.98 65.66 
			 County Durham and Tees valley 11.86 19.71 56.71 52.29 59.00 39.01 41.15 47.17 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire 21.61 22.39 30.19 32.98 53.19 47.41 48.26 36.04 
			 Dorset and Somerset 12.79 19.17 21.08 50.10 36.99 37.74 46.27 63.63 
			 Essex 14.81 28.44 37.82 50.83 43.22 55.57 48.42 60.50 
			 Greater Manchester 46.47 26.75 47.27 58.05 48.99 53.84 37.95 45.63 
			 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 15.08 25.51 32.73 87.84 45.04 55.83 67.45 47.68 
			 Kent and Medway 21.37 15.28 25.40 32.89 65.46 44.56 44.29 50.11 
			 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland 14.85 18.62 24.08 59.07 62.82 48.98 49.02 49.06 
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire 14.40 16.49 31.06 30.40 82.43 52.51 33.88 28.28 
			 North and East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire 19.41 111.72 31.09 39.99 50.72 41.93 41.77 54.95 
			 North Central London 50.46 108.67 89.65 126.54 77.39 68.38 65.40 46.96 
			 North East London 28.11 27.68 32.30 30.38 55.42 89.05 80.54 64.45 
			 North West London 32.84 63.79 44.33 74.61 67.89 81.95 88.68 69.93 
			 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 23.13 34.72 76.04 46.48 72.79 66.48 52.62 63.91 
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire 15.02 19.54 28.30 35.55 68.54 59.14 43.28 38.74 
			 South East London 22.90 53.79 48.53 54.68 131.22 64.71 62.76 64.99 
			 South West London 23.02 43.20 87.53 54.35 49.64 62.70 41.76 34.71 
			 South West Peninsula 15.56 18.90 28.11 60.40 51.24 60.92 42.34 52.38 
			 South Yorkshire 29.40 34.61 41.67 43.01 56.60 54.19 26.99 17.32 
			 Surrey and Sussex 20.59 28.30 24.14 27.00 77.52 53.75 52.68 36.15 
			 Thames Valley 19.11 43.83 44.38 42.61 49.24 56.17 50.05 38.59 
			 Trent 19.69 19.02 27.39 71.08 51.17 49.12 40.23 37.68 
			 West Midlands South 22.13 16.93 19.17 23.71 52.54 42.57 38.97 33.30 
			 West Yorkshire 13.28 21.41 30.15 26.63 51.10 47.40 38.58 39.88 
			 England 22.89 33.44 36.98 49.10 60.39 55.62 49.18 45.55 
			  Notes: Expenditure by health authority area is taken as the total expenditure of the strategic health authority, predecessor health authorities and primary care trusts within the health authority areas, and (for capital) by relevant NHS trusts. Running Costs expenditure shown does not include all NHS expenditure within the area. Expenditure on general dental services and pharmaceutical services accounted for by the Dental Practice Board and Prescription Pricing Authority, respectively, are excluded. This expenditure cannot be included within the figures for the individual health bodies as they are not included in commissioner accounts. Capital expenditure includes expenditure by NHS trusts within the authority areas but services provided by the NHS trusts may not be restricted to the particular strategic health authority areas. Expenditure by NHS foundation trusts is not included  Sources: Audited accounts of health authorities 1997-98 to 2001-02 Audited summarisation forms of strategic health authorities 2002-03 to 2005-06 Audited summarisation schedules of primary care trusts 2000-01 to 2005-06 Audited summarisation schedules of NHS trusts 1997-1998 to 2005-06 Office of National Statistics unweighted population figures

NHS: Finance

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2007,  Official Report, column 138W, on NHS: finance, for which different data sets she envisages re-using the templates.

Andy Burnham: The maps were designed so that they could be regularly updated to reflect developments in the local improvement finance trust and hospital building programmes as and when required.

NHS: ICT

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with which web browsers Choose and Book is compatible; which other parts of the NHS IT programme use web browsers; and with which browsers each of those parts is compatible.

Caroline Flint: The choose and book professional application is fully compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0 (IE6). Users are advised to employ IE6, but can also use Internet Explorer version 7.0 (IE7). Instructions on optimum browser configuration for IE7 have been published on the choose and book website.
	The choose and book patient application currently supports Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0 (IE5) and above. Microsoft Internet Explorer is used by over two thirds of all internet users in the United Kingdom, and for this reason was selected as the browser for which the patient web application was originally devised in order to achieve access to the greatest number of patients in the shortest possible time. While this means that the site is not yet accessible to all internet users, work is in hand to ensure one hundred per cent. accessibility later this year, including to those who access via the Firefox and Safari web browsers.
	A warning about chose and book browser compatibility is posted on the HealthSpace website, together with advice on how to report and resolve any problems.
	All the national programme's core applications and services require web browser functionality. Suppliers are delivering solutions which will in due course be accessible via all versions of IE or Firefox. However, in the short term, some current versions of suppliers' solutions are limited to IE6.

NHS: ICT

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what means care data from a single patient kept in different locations are to be assembled by clinicians using the new NHS IT system for patient records; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 23 April 2007
	A key element of the national programme for information technology is delivery of a national summary care record. The first phase of this service will allow a summary of information held on general practitioners' systems to be uploaded to a national database to allow other clinicians to view it. Information is loaded onto the database from different systems via a transaction messaging system, which processes and routes data messages. Introduction of the summary care record has now begun at so-called early adopter sites.
	In the first instance it is expected that the service will be predominantly of use in unscheduled care settings where knowledge of allergies, medicines and major diagnoses will improve patient care and safeguard patient safety. It is expected that the service will be extended in due course to include information from other care settings. Implementation and the future development of the summary care record will be overseen by an advisory group, including clinical, patient and manager stakeholders, chaired by Professor Martin Marshall, the Department's Deputy Chief Medical Officer.
	The systems which will enable clinicians to access and use the care records service are being delivered by the national programme's local service providers (LSPs). Each of the LSPs has a portfolio of products that cover different care settings and specialities. It is the LSPs' responsibility to integrate their products with each other, and with the central services such as the summary care record, the personal demographic service that provides a single authoritative source of patient demographic data, and the access control framework, which registers and authenticates users. The purpose of these integration requirements is to underpin the creation of a coherent and consistent national information service.
	This is being implemented using the worlds first HL7 V3 enterprise solution (HL7 V3 is an international health messaging standard). The messages that support the integration of systems flow through the central spine database. The spine is the colloquial name given to the national database of key information about patients' health and care. It forms the core of the national health service care records service (NHS CRS). The spine currently deals with well in excess of 40 million messages a month and supports around 350,000 registered users, some 50,000 of whom access the system on a typical day, with a peak of over 20,000 users authenticating to the system in a single hour. This is in marked contrast with the previous situation in the NHS which was characterised by huge diversity and an inability to communicate information between systems.
	The NHS CRS will provide an integrated national service for all NHS clinical applications, with consequent improvements in patients' safety, care and experience, and the efficiency of the service as a whole. This is being delivered by providing an overarching information strategy that allows the portfolio of systems from the local service providers and the existing systems providers to be integrated into a coherent service. The clear evidence that this approach is proving effective is that 102 systems have been through the compliance programmes, creating a level of systems interoperability that was unimaginable three years ago.

NHS: ICT

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how information held on equipment from different suppliers is to be integrated in the new NHS IT system for patient records.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 23 April 2007
	Information from different suppliers is integrated in the new national health service information technology systems by having an agreed set of messages and interaction sequences to permit communication between systems. This set of messages and interaction sequences has been created by the Department's NHS Connecting for Health agency in the form of the Message Implementation Manual (MIM). They are defined using an international standard called HL7 version 3. NHS Connecting for Health has been a lead participant in the development of this standard.
	The national application service provider for the NHS care records service (NHS CRS) uses the MIM to create a more detailed specification called the external integration specification. Local service providers use this specification to develop their systems, which are tested for conformity to it in NHS Connecting for Health's national integration centre (NIC). The NIC is staffed by NHS Connecting for Health's technical assurance team and testing teams from each of the suppliers. The assurance team is responsible for ensuring that suppliers' products and services can be implemented on both a national and local level.
	The NHS CRS will provide an integrated national service for all NHS clinical applications, with consequent improvements in patients' safety, care and experience, and the efficiency of the service as a whole. This is being delivered by providing an overarching information strategy that allows the portfolio of systems from the local service providers and the existing systems providers to be integrated into a coherent service. The clear evidence that this approach is proving effective is that 102 systems have been through the compliance programmes, creating a level of systems interoperability that was unimaginable three years ago.

NHS: ICT

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many primary care trusts use systems for demand management of patients referred by GPs to tertiary health services.

Andy Burnham: The information is not available centrally as this is a matter for the national health service locally.

NHS: ICT

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to the oral answer to the hon. Member for St. Ives of 24 April 2007,  Official Report, column 775, on NHS information technology, what information her Department collects from local trusts on the  (a) costs and  (b) useage of the Choose and Book system;
	(2)  pursuant to the oral answer of 24 April 2007,  Official Report, column 775, on NHS information technology, what kinds of information on the Choose and Book system are collected; and from whom.

Caroline Flint: The Department receives information from primary care trusts via monthly monitoring returns, which provide data relating to the number of converted Choose and Book unique booking reference numbers for first outpatient appointments. Other data on usage is extracted by the department from the Choose and Book system itself. NHS Connecting for Health also collects local information on technology release dates.
	No information is collected by the Department on costs at trust level.

Nurses: Redundancy

Bob Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses were made redundant in each London NHS trust in each of the last 10 years.

Ivan Lewis: The number of nurses made compulsorily redundant in each London trust in the nine months to December 2006 is in the following table. This is the first time redundancy data has been collected centrally in the last 10 years.
	
		
			  Compulsory nurse redundancies in London April 2006 to December 2006 
			  London trust  Type  Compulsory nurse redundancies at 31 December 2006 
			 Havering Primary Care Trust (PCT) PCT 0 
			 Tower Hamlets PCT PCT 0 
			 Newham PCT PCT 0 
			 Waltham Forest PCT PCT 0 
			 Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospital National Health Service Trust Acute 0 
			 Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust Acute 1 
			 Newham University Hospital NHS Trust Acute 2 
			 Barts and The London NHS Trust Acute Other 0 
			 East London and the City MH NHS Trust Mental Health 0 
			 London Strategic Health Authority (SHA) SHA 0 
			 Whittington Hospital NHS Trust Acute 3 
			 North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust Acute 0 
			 Haringey Teaching PCT PCT 3 
			 Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust Children's Services 1 
			 Camden and Islington Mental Health Social Care NHS Trust Care Trust 0 
			 Camden PCT PCT 0 
			 Barnet PCT PCT 0 
			 Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust Acute 0 
			 Lewisham PCT PCT 1 
			 Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust Acute 11 
			 Lambeth PCT PCT 0 
			 Southwark PCT PCT 0 
			 The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust Acute 7 
			 West Middlesex University NHS Trust Acute 1 
			 West London Mental Health NHS Trust Mental Health 1 
			 St. Mary's NHS Trust Acute Other 0 
			 North West London Hospitals NHS Trust Acute 4 
			 Kensington and Chelsea PCT PCT 0 
			 The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust Multi Service 0 
			 Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust Acute Other 0 
			 Harrow PCT PCT 0 
			 Ealing Hospital NHS Trust Acute 0 
			 Brent Teaching PCT PCT 0 
			 Kingston PCT PCT 3 
			 Wandsworth PCT PCT 1 
			 Sutton and Merton PCT PCT 0 
			 Epsom and St. Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust Acute 0 
			 Lewisham PCT PCT 0 
			 Bexley Care PCT PCT 0 
			 St. George's Healthcare NHS Trust Acute Other 3 
			 Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust Acute 0 
			 Kingston Hospital NHS Trust Acute 0 
			 Barking and Dagenham PCT PCT 0 
			 City and Hackney Teaching PCT PCT 0 
			 Redbridge PCT PCT 0 
			 North East London Mental Health NHS Trust Mental Health 0 
			 Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust Mental Health 0 
			 The Royal Nat Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust Orthopaedic 0 
			 Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust Acute Other 0 
			 Islington PCT PCT 0 
			 Barnet, Enfield And Haringey MH NHS Trust Mental Health 0 
			 Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust Acute 0 
			 Enfield PCT PCT 0 
			 Bromley PCT PCT 0 
			 Greenwich Teaching PCT PCT 0 
			 London Ambulance Service NHS Trust Ambulance 0 
			 SW London and St. George's Mental Health NHS Trust Mental Health 0 
			 Richmond and Twickenham PCT PCT 0 
			 Croydon PCT PCT 0 
			 Central and North West London MH NHS Trust Mental Health 0 
			 Ealing PCT PCT 0 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham PCT PCT 0 
			 Hillingdon PCT PCT 0 
			 Hounslow PCT PCT 0 
			 Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust Acute Other 0 
			 Westminster PCT PCT 0 
			 Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust Acute 13 
			 Total  55

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of pharmacists collecting prescription fees.

Caroline Flint: No formal assessment of the collection of prescription charges has been made. However, this is a simple arrangement in that it gives the patient the opportunity to sign a declaration of entitlement to exemption, or pay a charge, at the time dispensing takes place.

Primary Health Care

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the  (a) capability and  (b) capacity of primary care trusts to deliver a shift of patient care from the secondary sector into primary care; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: All primary care trusts (PCTs) have, within the last year, gone through the Fitness for Purpose assessment, which assessed the short-term risks of PCTs failing to meet their objectives in finance, strategy and other areas. PCTs also underwent a commissioning diagnostic, designed to identify gaps in their capabilities and enable them to create a focused improvement programme. Although Fitness for Purpose did not include a specific question on the shift of patient care from secondary to primary care, achieving such a shift is critical to good commissioning. The assessment exercise revealed that most PCTs were at or above minimum standards for commissioning.
	As well as individual PCT development plans, there are a number of mechanisms in place to facilitate a shift of services to settings that are more convenient for patients, including:
	a 750 million capital investment fund to support the development of more community hospitals and facilities to deliver care closer to home;
	the opportunity through practice based commissioning for primary care practitioners to decide what services should be commissioned locally and to provide more services for themselves; and
	new advice about commissioning services from accredited practitioners with special interests.

Queen's Hospital, Romford

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) doctors and  (b) student nurses are employed at the Queen's hospital in Romford.

Andy Burnham: This information is not held in the format requested. However, the table shows the number of doctors within Barking, Havering and Redbridge hospitals national health service trust by grade. We are unable to provide student nurse figures as we do not hold these at trust level.
	
		
			  Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): Medical and dental staff within in Barking, Havering And Redbridge hospitals national health service trust by grade as at 30 September 2006 
			   Number (headcount) 
			 All staff 739 
			 Consultant 216 
			 Associate specialist 14 
			 Staff grade 64 
			 Registrar group 116 
			 Senior house officer 212 
			 Foundation year 2 44 
			 House officer and foundation year 1 47 
			 Hospital practitioner/clinical assistant 26 
			  Source: The Information Centre for health and social care medical and dental workforce census

Queen's Hospital, Romford

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many surgical operations have been performed at the Queen's hospital in Romford since its opening.

Andy Burnham: This information is not collected centrally at hospital level.

Queen's Hospital, Romford

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many  (a) nurses and  (b) doctors there are per patient at the Queen's hospital in Romford;
	(2)  how many wards there are in Romford's Queen's hospital; and how many are in use.

Andy Burnham: This information is not held centrally.

Sharon Payne

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will apply for rescindment of the court order relating to the provision of the medical files held by Sharon Payne to the Attorney General.

Caroline Flint: It would not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to seek a rescindment of this court order as this remains the responsibility of the Attorney-General.

Speech Therapy

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the change in numbers of allied health professional posts on speech and language therapy services.

Rosie Winterton: The recently published September 2006 national health service workforce census showed there were a headcount of 6,623 speech and language therapists, an increase of 1,752 or 36 per cent. since 1997.
	There was also a full-time equivalent increase in the number of speech and language therapists of 87 or 1.7 per cent. in 2006 from the previous year.
	Patients requiring NHS speech and language therapy services will benefit from these work force increases.

Surgery

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 March 2007,  Official Report, column 1204W, on surgery, for what reasons there are differences between the data provided in the answer and the data provided in the answer of 17 May 2006,  Official Report, column 1117W, on operations.

Andy Burnham: The two questions asked for different information. The question answered on 23 March 2007,  Official Report, column 1204W, used the term procedures and was answered using a count of all procedures for admitted patients. The question answered on 17 May 2006,  Official Report, column 1117W, used the term operations and was answered using a count of finished consultant episodes that include a main operation. The data provided in response to each question was set out in the title of the table given in each reply.
	More procedures are carried out than finished consultant episodes that include a main operation. For example, patients under going a cataract operation would tend to have at least two proceduresremoval of the faulty lens and the fitting of a new onecounted in a single finished consultant episode.
	Further information can be found at www.hesonline.org.uk.

Surgery: Death

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the post-operative death rate for emergency procedures was in the NHS in each year between 1998-99 and 2005-06.

Andy Burnham: The Department does not collate the specified information required.
	The data are available from the National Centre for Health Outcomes Development via their website at www.nchod.nhs.uk. They have produced the following data for 1998-99 to 2003-04 linking data from the information available from the Hospital Episode Statistics data and the Office for National Statistics mortality data to get the nearest information available. These data include deaths in hospital and after discharge. Data are not yet available for 2004-05 onwards.
	
		
			  Deaths within 30 days of a hospital procedure: surgery (non-elective admissions) ,  data for national health service hospitals England, data years 1998-99 to 2003-04 
			  Data year  Number of completed in-patient spells  ( denominator )  Number of deaths  ( numerator )  Post operative death rate (numerator/denominator) 
			 2003-04 367,400 17,273 0.0470 
			 2002-03 358,147 17,272 0.0482 
			 2001-02 348,459 17,001 0.0488 
			 2000-01 347,810 17,553 0.0505 
			 1999-2000 350,864 18,258 0.0520 
			 1998-99 337,430 18,295 0.0542 
			  Notes: 1. Unstandardised data The data presented here are unstandardised. This means that changes between years in the mix of patients' ages, gender or procedures are not taken into account in presenting these figures. In addition, no statistical analysis is included to determine whether changes in rates are significant. 2. Data definitions Spells examined: spells where there was at least one mention of an eligible procedure code in any of the 12 procedure fields (excluding spells where there was a diagnosis code of cancer or chemotherapy for cancer). Nature of admissions: All non-elective admission methods were used. Cause of Death: All causes of death are used. The period for which deaths are included: 0-29 inclusive days after first procedure.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Approved Premises: Greater London

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many approved premises there are in the Greater London probation area; how many places are available at each establishment; how many assistant managers are employed at each of the approved premises in the Greater London probation area; and how many posts are vacant;
	(2)  how many relief staff are employed at each approved premises in the Greater London probation area;
	(3)  whether staff from private security firms are used to supervise residents in approved premises in the Greater London probation area during the night shift;
	(4)  what the establishment staffing figure is for each approved premise in the Greater London probation area; and how many of those staff posts were vacant on 30 March.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	There are 13 approved premises in London, nine managed by the London Probation Board and four by voluntary sector providers. Collectively they provide a total of 311 bed spaces. The number of beds at each approved premises varies. The largest (Westbourne House) has 41 bed spaces, the smallest (Haling) has 18. In the board-managed sector, there are five assistant managers employed at each approved premises, making a total of 45 in all; seven of those posts are currently vacant. Across the four voluntary-managed premises there are 18 assistant manager posts, of which one is currently vacant.
	London Probation Board has, over the course of many years, built a significant pool of relief staff, who are used across the estate to provide cover for annual leave, sickness and training. All relief staff are CRB checked, required to undertake a 'shadow' shift before commencing their duties, and expected to complete the area's core approved premises training programme. A full list of relief staff is held by the London Probation HR Department, and only staff on the list are offered work. The number employed at each approved premises will vary over time as dictated by the need for cover. Similarly, each of the voluntary sector providers has a pool of relief staff on which they can draw to cover short-term gaps in staffing.
	The London Probation Board has engaged the services of a private security firm to provide one member of staff at each approved premises between the hours of 9pm and 9am. The security staff work alongside board-employed staff. The board employees act in effect as shift leaders, and are responsible for managing the residents, including enforcement action. They are responsible also for liaison with the standby manager, or the on-call assistant chief officer, in the case of an emergency. The role of the security staff is to provide additional waking cover during the night. Their tasks include CCTV monitoring, undertaking routine patrols of the building, and supporting the board employees in carrying out their duties. None of the voluntary sector providers currently use private security staff.
	The staff establishment at each approved premises managed by the London Probation Board (with the exception of Westbourne House) is as follows:
	one manager
	one deputy manager
	five assistant managers
	two night hostel assistants
	one office manager
	At Westbourne House the establishment is:
	one manager
	two deputy managers
	five assistant managers
	two probation service officers
	four night hostel assistants
	one office manager
	one admin officer
	As at 30 March 2007 there were a total of 14 vacancies, broken down as follows:
	one office manager
	seven assistant managers
	five night hostel assistants
	Across the four voluntary managed premises the staff establishment is:
	four managers
	four deputy managers
	18 assistant managers
	12 night hostel assistants
	three admin officers
	10 domestic staff
	As at 30 March 2007 there are two vacancies:
	assistant manager
	domestic worker

Closed Circuit Television

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many councils have been granted funding for talking CCTV systems; and whether there are plans to extend the scheme;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the impact of talking CCTV systems on the communities in which they are used.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 3 May 2007
	 The Respect Task Force is providing funding for 'Talking CCTV' in 20 areas, using this new technology to target litterbugs and those behaving antisocially. These areas are involving children in competitions and activities, encouraging them to use their 'pester power' in a positive way to tell the grown-ups what behaviour they want to see, and what they do not.
	The 20 areas receiving Respect funding for Talking CCTV are:
	Southwark
	Barking and Dagenham
	Reading
	Harlow
	Norwich
	Ipswich
	Plymouth
	Gloucester
	Derby
	Northampton
	Mansfield
	Nottingham
	Coventry
	Sandwell
	Wirral
	Blackpool
	Salford
	Middlesbrough
	South Tyneside
	Darlington.
	Information on councils who might have developed talking CCTV using other funding sources is not held centrally.
	The task force has no current plans to fund further roll-out to other areas.
	The announcement of Respect funding for these 20 areas was made on 4 April 2007, following a successful trialling of 'Talking CCTV' in Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough council reports that it has proved effective in reducing problems such as littering, drunken and disorderly behaviour, vandalism and dispersing intimidating groups loitering in shopping areas, parks and housing estates; and that the town's cleanliness has improved dramatically.

Curfews

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people breached their home detention curfew conditions and were returned to prison in  (a) 2004,  (b) 2005 and  (c) 2006.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	The following table gives the number of offenders who breached the conditions of the home detention curfew scheme pursuant to section 255(l)(a) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and whose licences were revoked and were recalled to prison.
	
		
			  HDC  r ecalls 2004-06 
			   Breach of curfew 
			 2004 1,719 
			 2005 1,731 
			 2006 1,512

Domestic Violence

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of reported cases of domestic violence led to  (a) an arrest and  (b) a custodial sentence in the last year for which figures are available.

Vernon Coaker: Data on the percentage of reported cases of domestic violence that led to an arrest is currently collected by the Home Office as part of the policing performance assessment framework. The figures for last year (2005-06) are listed where available by police force area in the following table.
	Data on the percentage of reported cases of domestic violence that led to a custodial sentence is not routinely collected.
	
		
			  Policing performance assessment framework (PPAF): The domestic violence arrest rate is the percentage of incidents where an arrest was made related to the number of incidents 
			   Domestic violence arrest rate (percentage) 
			 Avon and Somerset 23.2 
			 Bedfordshire 26.8 
			 Cambridgeshire 15.8 
			 Cheshire 32.6 
			 City of London 47.0 
			 Cleveland 26.1 
			 Cumbria 27.8 
			 Derbyshire (1) 
			 Devon and Cornwall 23.7 
			 Dorset 34.0 
			 Durham 24.9 
			 Dyfed Powys 36.9 
			 Essex 26.9 
			 Gloucestershire 24.7 
			 Greater Manchester 11.4 
			 Gwent 49.5 
			 Hampshire (1) 
			 Hertfordshire 23.4 
			 Humberside 25.1 
			 Kent 23.5 
			 Lancashire 33.6 
			 Leicestershire 21.7 
			 Lincolnshire 17.8 
			 Merseyside 21.8 
			 Metropolitan Police 35.5 
			 Norfolk 28.1 
			 North Wales 22.0 
			 North Yorkshire 48.7 
			 Northamptonshire 65.7 
			 Northumbria 28.8 
			 Nottinghamshire 13.3 
			 South Wales 29.6 
			 South Yorkshire 39.2 
			 Staffordshire 35.7 
			 Suffolk 21.1 
			 Surrey 19.9 
			 Sussex 28.1 
			 Thames Valley 34.4 
			 Warwickshire 18.2 
			 West Mercia 26.5 
			 West Midlands 30.8 
			 West Yorkshire 45.8 
			 Wiltshire 25.7 
			 (1 )Data not available

Domestic Violence: Public Service

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to enable public sector workers who are the victims of domestic violence to transfer to equivalent employment elsewhere in the  (a) country and  (b) sector in cases of need.

Vernon Coaker: The Government will actively provide support to employees to try and minimise the risk to their safety while at work, should they make it known to us that they are experiencing domestic violence.

Drugs: Ethnic Groups

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research he has commissioned into the over-representation of ethnic minorities in drug convictions.

John Reid: The Home Office has no research under way on this topic at present. However, the Home Office, as part of the Section 95 statistics, do publish an ethnic breakdown (4+1) of those sentenced for drug offences at the Crown court by outcome.

Electronic Tagging: Durham

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders in  (a) County Durham and  (b) Easington constituency wear electronic tags.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Figures provided by the electronic monitoring provider Group four Securicor show that at the end of February 2007 a total of 156 offenders were being monitored in the post-code areas which most closely correspond with Durham. And of these 15 were located in the post-code areas which most closely correspond with Easington.

Genetics: Databases

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people arrested in each financial year since 1995 who were  (a) under 16,  (b) 16 to 18,  (c) 19 to 21 and  (d) over 21 years at the time of their arrest had their DNA profiles added to the National DNA Database; and how many have subsequently had those profiles removed from the database in each case.

John Reid: The information requested on arrests is not available centrally. Information on arrests held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform is based on aggregated data collected at police force area level covering persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) by gender, specific age groups (under 10, 10 to 17,18 to 20, 21 and over and unknown), ethnicity and by main offence group only.
	Available information relating to subject sample profiles added to the National DNA Database in each financial year since 1995 to date by age group is set out in table 1.
	The number of subject sample profiles subsequently removed from the National DNA Database is given in table 2 as follows.
	
		
			  Table 1:  N umber of DNA subject sample profiles added to the National DNA Database in each year from 1995-96 to 2006-07 
			   1995-96  1996-97  1997-198  1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01 
			 Under 16 2,507 4,964 7,886 18,764 21,055 47,735 
			 16 to 18 5,977 14,137 20,152 37,696 31,902 59,088 
			 19 to 20 3,923 9,511 12,888 24,395 20,290 37,978 
			 21 and over 21,718 52,968 85,970 152,964 121,761 233,312 
			 Unknown age on load 2 8 13 9 3 6 
			 Total 34,127 81,588 126,909 233,828 195,011 378,119 
		
	
	
		
			   2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07 
			 Under 16 60,972 55,226 56,033 68,381 87,459 90,919 
			 16 to 18 70,534 62,823 59,403 66,954 86,052 88,522 
			 19 to 20 43,930 38,844 36,911 37,542 49,801 51,005 
			 21 and over 296,445 287,468 279,350 307,393 402,427 437,229 
			 Unknown age on load 15 33 26 16 58 62 
			 Total 471,896 444,394 431,723 480,286 625,797 667,737 
			 Total added 1995-2007 4,171,415 
			  Notes: 1. The data are for subject sample profiles taken by forces in England and Wales only (and include profiles taken from volunteers). They do not include profiles taken by Scottish forces, the Police Service for Northern Ireland, Guernsey etc. 2. The data give the age of persons when their profile was loaded to the National DNA Database (NDNAD) in each of the financial years. There are a number of subject sample profiles loaded in each financial year for which the date of birth and also therefore the age on load is unknown. 3. The age figures should be treated with caution as there are some data quality issues relating to the recording of dates of birth on the Police National Computer (PNC) by arresting police officers. Key demographic data such as the DOB data are transferred electronically from the PNC to NDNAD. 4. There are 37,804 subject sample profile records on the database for which there is no record of the financial year when they were loaded to the NDNAD. These records have not been included in the count. 5. The figures given are the numbers of DNA subject sample profiles added to the NDNAD. There are more DNA profiles held on the NDNAD than there are individuals due to DNA samples being taken from some individuals on more than one occasion (i.e. due to replicate sampling). A study into the rate of replication on the NDNAD was first carried out in 2003. Using the rate of replication, it is possible to estimate the number of individuals on the database from the number of profiles. However, as the replication rate before 2003 is unknown, to ensure consistency, the data given are the number of profiles and not individuals. The estimated rate of replication on the database for the years since 2003 is as follows: The estimated replication rate for financial year 2003-04 was 10 per cent. The estimated replication rate for financial year 2004-05 was 10 per cent. The estimated replication rate for financial year 2005-06 was 11 per cent. The estimated replication rate for the end of financial year 2006-07 was 13.7 per cent. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2:  N umber of subject sample profiles removed from the national DNA database 
			   2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07 
			 Under 16 40 5 12 29 22 
			 16 to 18 42 4 7 17 11 
			 19 to 20 28 6 4 8 4 
			 21 and over 146 30 30 111 78 
			 Unknown age on load 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 256 45 53 165 115 
			  Notes: 1. The data are for subject sample profiles taken by forces in England and Wales only. 2. The data show the number of profiles loaded in each financial year (FY) since 2002-03 to date which have since been deleted in any subsequent year i.e. 256 subject profiles loaded in FY 2002-03 have since been deleted in the period between 2002-03 and 31 March 2007. 3. Some limited information is available on the number of profiles removed between 1995 and 2002. This is by calendar year only, and no age breakdown is available. In 2002, a management information database was created which enabled more detailed information to be captured. 4. As the data represent the number of persons whose profiles have been removed from the database, it is not necessary to apply a replication rate to the figures.

Hindley Prison: Sexual Harassment

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who was responsible for commissioning the investigation into sexual harassment allegations against the Deputy Governor at HM Prison Hindley; what action was taken as a consequence; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	The Governor of Hindley commissioned the investigation. The matter has been dealt with. It is not Prison Service policy to comment on personnel issues involving individual members of staff.

Illegal Firearms

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the age was of each individual convicted and given a minimum five-year sentence for possessing an illegal firearm in each of the last three years;
	(2)  if he will list the countries of origin of the weapons which were possessed by the individuals convicted and given a minimum five-year sentence for possessing an illegal firearm in each of the last three years; and what the estimated age was of each such weapon;
	(3)  how many individuals were convicted and given a minimum five-year sentence for possessing an illegal firearm in each of the last three years, broken down by type of crime committed.

Vernon Coaker: The minimum five year sentence applies only to persons aged 18 or over and came into force for offences committed from 22 January 2004. The available information, relating to England and Wales for the years 2004 and 2005, is shown in the tables. Information for 2006 will be available in the autumn.
	The court proceedings database does not hold data on the country of origin of weapons possessed by those convicted of possession of an illegal firearm nor the ages of such weapons as the individual circumstances surrounding offences are not held centrally.
	
		
			  Table :  Persons aged 18 and over sentenced and those given custody for firearms possession offences involving mandatory 5 year term, by offence, England and Wales 
			  Offence and sentence  2004  2005 
			  Possessing or distributing prohibited weapons or ammunition (Firearms Act 1968, s 5(1 )(a), (ab), (aba), (ac), (ad), (ae), (af), or (c))   
			 Total sentenced 686 353 
			 Given immediate custody 240 233 
			 Of which: 5 years or over 75 142 
			
			  Possessing or distributing firearm disguised as other object (Firearms Act 1968, s 5(1A)(a))   
			 Total sentenced 1  
			 Given immediate custody 1  
			 Of which: 5 years or over 1  
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2:  Persons aged 18 and over sentenced to mandatory 5 year term (or over) for possession of firearms, by age, England and Wales 
			  Age  2004  2005 
			 18 4 3 
			 19 3 7 
			 20 6 8 
			 21 4 8 
			 22 4 4 
			 23 2 9 
			 24 4 7 
			 25 8 8 
			 26 3 4 
			 27 3 9 
			 28 3 9 
			 29 3 2 
			 30 2 3 
			 31 1 4 
			 32 1 3 
			 33 2 1 
			 34 1 2 
			 35 4 7 
			 36 1 3 
			 37  6 
			 38 2 2 
			 39 1 4 
			 40 1 3 
			 41 4 4 
			 42 2 5 
			 43  2 
			 44 1 3 
			 45 1 1 
			 46 1 2 
			 47   
			 48  2 
			 49 1  
			 50   
			 51 1 1 
			 54  1 
			 56  1 
			 57 2  
			 58  1 
			 59  1 
			 61  1 
			 63   
			 64  1 
			 Total 76 142 
			  Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.  Source: RDS-NOMS, Home Office

Life Imprisonment

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are on waiting lists for first stage lifer units; and whether he plans to provide courses in local prisons for prisoners serving indeterminate public protection sentences.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	There is no centrally held waiting list for first stage lifer units, but there were 2,603 prisoners serving indeterminate sentences held in local prisons, as at 13 April 2007. The majority of them were waiting for transfer to first stage lifer prisons, but the figure also includes a small number of recalled life sentence prisoners who will not be on the waiting lists for main lifer centres.
	Local prisons offer a range of courses and other interventions, some of which are suitable for prisoners serving indeterminate sentences. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is currently conducting a review of the systems and services for life sentenced prisoners and prisoners serving indeterminate public protection sentences.

Open Prisons

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners serving sentences of  (a) 12 months or less and  (b) between 12 months and 24 months were housed in open conditions in the prison estate in each of the last 24 months for which figures are available.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Figures on the numbers of prisoners under immediate custodial sentence of  (a) under 12 months and  (b) 12 months to less than 24 months, in the specified list of open prison establishments in England and Wales in the years 2005 to 2007, can be found in the following table. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	
		
			  Immediate custodial sentenced population in open prisons( 1)  in England and Wales by sentence length February 2005  to  March 2007 
			   Less than12 months  12 months to less than 24 months 
			 February 2005 524 485 
			 March 2005 552 483 
			 April 2005 518 478 
			 May 2005 533 500 
			 June 2005 524 484 
			 July 2005 535 464 
			 August 2005 530 470 
			 September 2005 502 449 
			 October 2005 527 454 
			 November 2005 445 417 
			 December 2005 342 384 
			 January 2006 395 406 
			 February 2006 432 400 
			 March 2006 478 379 
			 April 2006 419 412 
			 May 2006 393 368 
			 June 2006 354 346 
			 July 2006 395 359 
			 August 2006 445 385 
			 September 2006 522 416 
			 October 2006 567 424 
			 November 2006 443 339 
			 December 2006 354 376 
			 January 2007 377 386 
			 February 2007 366 368 
			 March 2007 411 392 
			 (1) Open prisons are those stated on the prison service annual report (Ford, Hewell Grange, Hollesley Bay, Kirkham, Leyhill, North Sea Camp, Standford Hill, Sudbury, Askham Grange, East Sutton Park and Thorn Cross) and Moorland Open, Frescoed and Spring Hill. It does not include semi-open prisons.

Prison Service

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Head of the Management Succession and Selection Unit in HM Prison Service was involved in the managed move of Paul Baker to the Deputy Governor position at HM Prison Pentonville; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	The appointment of Paul Baker to the role of Deputy Governor of HM Prison Pentonville was decided by the Deputy Director General of the Prison Service, in his role as the Chairperson of the Succession Planning Committee for the Prison Service. The Head of Management, Succession and Selection Unit was not involved in making this decision.

Prison Service: Compensation

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the reasons were for the 16,589,000 paid by the Prison Service as special payments in 2005-06 other than compensation to staff and prisoners.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Of the 16,589,000 paid as special payments, 255,000 were payments made to third partiesgenerally members of the public in settlement of claims for injury, losses of property and in two cases associated with deaths in custody. This figure also included the legal costs associated with settling the claims.

Prison Service: Electronic Surveillance

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what level of authority is required at prison establishments for the covert access to and monitoring of staff e-mails; how many staff were subject to covert viewing of their e-mails at each prison establishment in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Governors submit requests to access staff email accounts covertly via the Professional Standards Unit at Prison Service Headquarters. Approval for covert access comes from the Head of Professional Standards Unit (or a member of the Senior Management Team in their absence). It is HMPS policy not to comment or provide data on any specific covert activity as this may undermine the attempt to tackle wrongdoing or corruption.

Prison Service: First Aid

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what skills are required of prison officers to deal with medical emergencies.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 and Instruction to Governors 32/1996 require governors to ensure that there is a sufficient level of first aid provision to deal with immediate medical emergencies. First aid volunteers, including officers, must attend a training course approved by the Health and Safety Executive. In addition, all staff in contact with prisoners are trained in basic suicide prevention procedures, though many are also trained to higher levels.

Prison Service: Working Hours

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the outstanding number of time off in lieu hours was in HM Prison Service in the latest period for which figures are available; how such hours are accounted for in the annual accounts of the Service; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	The Prison Service accounts for outstanding time off in lieu hours in its annual accounts. At 31 March 2006, there were 95,625 outstanding hours. An accrual is made in the accounts for the value of these hours using an average salary cost per grade. While not explicitly stated in the accounts, these costs form part of the overall staff remuneration costs.

Prisoners Release

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of prisoners released from jail about which the police are not notified by the prison authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	No estimate has been made of the number of prisoners released from prison about whom the police are not notified.
	The police are routinely informed by prisons of the imminent discharge dates of those subject to multi agency public protection arrangements level two and three, those who are prolific and other priority offenders, and those released under the Home Detention Curfew Scheme.
	In addition, the police are sent information on a weekly basis of all those who it is known will return to their area on release. The information is sent to Force Intelligence Bureaux six weeks prior to the release date and every week thereafter until release.

Prisoners: Females

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to reduce self-harming by women prisoners; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	The Prison Service's suicide prevention and self-harm management strategy for women prisoners focuses on dealing with the underlying factors that can lead them to harm themselves, including previous abuse, substance misuse and mental health problemswhich are experienced by a, very high proportion of women in custody. Women prisoners benefit from a number of interventions including:
	individual crisis counselling for women prisoners who self-harm;
	investment and planning to ensure progress on the detoxification strategy in women's prisons;
	introduction of a training pack for all staff working with women in custody, which includes a module on the health and wellbeing of women prisoners;
	1 million from the Department of Health has been allocated to women's prisons to be spent on the recruitment of psychiatric nurses, and all women's prisons now have mental health in-reach facilities.

Prisoners: Foreigners

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether foreign prisoners moved from Ford Open Prison to closed conditions in May 2006 were re-categorised to a higher security classification prior to their move.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	No. The foreign national prisoners were removed to closed conditions as category D prisoners so that their individual categorisations could be reassessed.

Prisoners: Foreigners

David Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convicted prisoners who have completed their sentences are being held in prisons in England and Wales; and on which dates each such prisoner completed their sentence.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Information on the numbers of time-served prisoners within all prison establishments in England and Wales would not be available and would incur disproportionate cost.

Prisoners: Transport

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average monthly cost of prisoner transport services has been  (a) in the last two years and  (b) during the activation of Operation Safeguard.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	The average monthly cost of contracted prisoner transport in the last two years was 11.9 million. Separate figures for contracted prisoner transport that cover the period of Operation Safeguard are not kept and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action was taken following the death of Paul Day in the management of segregation units at prison establishments; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked reply.
	Prison Service Order 1810 on 'Maintaining Order in Prisons' was introduced in July 2005. It requires the individual case management of disruptive prisoners and the transfer of key information from sending to receiving prisons when any individual is transferred between prisons and segregation units. It also stopped the informal transfer or return arrangements between establishments. The Prison Service launched a Segregation Unit Development Strategy in January 2005, which aimed to ensure that prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm are managed and supported outside of segregation if at all possible. There is also a review under way of all segregation policies. This includes specialist input from the National Offender Management Service, Prisoner Health, and the Prison and Probation Ombudsman and seeks to develop new strategies in relation to mental health care and alternatives to segregation.

Prisons: Drugs

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the extent of  (a) the use of false samples,  (b) the mis-use of refrigeration,  (c) inadequate supervision in the collection of samples and  (d) collusion (i) among officers and (ii) between officers and inmates and  (e) administration errors in the process of mandatory drug testing in prison establishments; what steps he is taking (A) to monitor and (B) to prevent abuses of mandatory drug testing; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	No drug testing system is entirely foolproof but the mandatory drug testing policy and procedures of the National Offender Management Service are fully in line with best practice and are designed to reduce to a minimum the possibility that the process can be compromised. A robust system is in place to provide checks and balances and good management oversight including:
	rigorous chain of custody procedures;
	rigorous laboratory procedures;
	monitoring by Area Drug Co-ordinators during routine visits to prisons;
	Prison Service Standard Audits and a self-audit programme at establishment level to monitor performance against the Drug Strategy Standard 10which requires prisons to conduct mandatory testing in line with the requirements of Prison Service Order 3 601 (Mandatory Drug Testing);
	Internal Audit review; and
	an independent Quality Assurance adviser who monitors the efficacy of the contracted drug testing laboratory on behalf of NOMS.
	An assessment of the extent of the risks identified is as follows:
	 (a) use of false samplesthe procedures for collecting samples are designed to minimise the risk of adulteration, dilution or the provision of a false sample. Research published by the Office for National Statistics in 2005 reported that around 3 per cent. of those prisoners tested admitted to an attempt to subvert the MDT process. In 2005-06 the laboratory reported suspicions about less than 1 per cent. of samples. Attempts to compromise MDT samples rarely prevent the detection of drugs;
	 (b) refrigeration stabilises samples and maximises the ability to detect drugs. Lack of refrigeration is however unlikely to affect significantly the ability to detect the majority of drugs;
	 (c) inadequate supervision in the collection of samplesa Prison Service Internal Audit conducted in 2006 found that establishments were collecting samples correctly;
	 (d) collusionthe Prison Service Professional Standards Unit has responsibility for tackling staff corruption in conjunction with professional standards' managers working at area and local level. There is no evidence that collusion in relation to drug tests is widespread; and
	 (e) administrative errorsa Prison Service Internal Audit conducted in 2006 identified some minor administrative errors but found that they did not affect the validity of the tests. Prisons were reminded of the need to follow good administrative practice.

Prisons: Education

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length is of an educational course in prisons in England and Wales.

Phil Hope: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested is not collected centrally.
	With the introduction of the Learning and Skills Council-led delivery arrangements for offender learning in England from 31 July 2006, data on the average length of an educational course in prison will increasingly become available for adults, young offenders and juveniles in custody.
	Separate arrangements apply under the devolved Administration for Wales.

Prisons: Health Services

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that people held in private prisons who claim  (a) that their health care needs are not being met and  (b) that they suffer mistreatment have access to a complaints procedure.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Prisoners held in privately-managed prisons who wish to complain about their health care provision do currently have access to a complaints process. Under the first tier of that process, a complaint should be made locally within the prison in line with the usual complaints procedure. If the complainant remains dissatisfied, it is open to him to complain to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Prisoners held in privately-managed prisons who claim to have suffered mistreatment on non-medical issue are able to complain using the usual complaints process. If, having made a complaint internally, the prisoner remains dissatisfied, it is open to him to ask the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman to consider the matter.

Probation

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders in each of the 42 probation areas in England and Wales breached their  (a) community sentence requirements,  (b) licences and  (c) parole conditions while under the supervision of the Probation Service in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and what steps were taken to remedy such breaches.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Information for England and Wales on the completion rates for the main types of community sentence, for each year since 1995, can be found in Table 5.1 of the Home Office Statistical Bulletin: Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library. Information on the number of offenders recalled to prison for breaching their licence conditions can be found in Tables 10.7, 10.8 and 10.9 of the same publication. The reliability of those data at local area level is not sufficiently robust for publication. Generally, compliance and rigorous enforcement are essential if community sentences and licence supervision are to provide an effective punishment and deterrent, in which the public has confidence. The latest performance figures for the National Probation Service (covering April 2006February 2007) indicate that 92 per cent. of relevant offenders have enforcement action initiated within 10 working days as required by National Standards; in 1999 it was just 44 per cent. Since 2002-03 the service has also been measured against a compliance target, which measures the proportion of orders and licences that reach the six months stage without requiring breach action. On this basis compliance has improved from 62 per cent. in 2002-03 to 72 per cent. in 2006-07 (April 2006February 2007).

Rape

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the law relating to consent in rape cases where a complainant was under the influence of alcohol.

Vernon Coaker: Section 74 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 defines consent in the context of sexual offences by stating that:
	a person consents if he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice.
	Where a complainant is intoxicated, this may be relevant to the question of whether or not they have the capacity to consent.
	In the public consultation 'Convicting Rapists and Protecting VictimsJustice for Victims of Rape', we consulted on whether a statutory definition of capacity was needed. We are considering the responses to the consultation exercise and other relevant information, including the recent Court of Appeal case of Bree. We hope to make our response to the consultation, including our assessment of this particular issue, known shortly.

Sentencing

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are serving indeterminate public protection sentences.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	As at 20 April 2007, the number of prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection was 2,547.

Sentencing

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average minimum term has been of indefinite sentences of public protection.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	A research study carried out by the Home Office into prisoners received into prisons in England and Wales under indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPP) between April 2005 and March 2006, showed that the median tariff (minimum term) given to these prisoners was 30 months. Findings from the research were published in Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library.

Sentencing

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners on an indefinite sentence of public protection have served longer than their tariff.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Data taken from individual case records held by the Pre-Release Section of the National Offender Management Service indicate that, as at 27 April 2007, tariff had expired in 173 cases where offenders had been sentenced to Imprisonment for Public Protection.

Sexual Offences

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who started the sexual offender treatment programme in each of the last five years completed the programme.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Figures for community sex offender treatment programmes are only available for the last financial year (2005-06). In that period there were 1,408 commencements and 974 completions recorded for the programme. For sex offender treatment programmes completed in custody between 15 June 2006 and 23 February 2007, there were 613 completions, and 32 non-completions, a non-completion rate of 5.2 per cent. This is estimated to be representative of previous years non-completion rates.

World War II: Genocide

Gisela Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on an EU-wide law on holocaust denial.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 27 April 2007
	A draft European framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia has been discussed over several years, including at the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council in spring 2003 and summer 2005. Agreement was not reached on either occasion. Negotiations restarted under the German presidency of the European Union, and a revised draft framework decision was discussed at the JHA Council in February 2007. A general approach was reached at the JHA Council on 19 April 2007. UK Ministers participated in all of these discussions.
	This framework decision is not a European Union wide law on holocaust denial. It requires member states to criminalise the most serious racist and xenophobic acts where they are carried out in a manner likely to incite violence or hatred and are threatening, abusive or insulting. Under our existing domestic law, this would only include denial of the Holocaust where it met all of these conditions. The framework decision sets a common EU standard for the most serious crimes but does not prevent member states from making other acts, including holocaust denial, criminal offences under their domestic law.

Young Offenders

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding he has provided to the Youth Offending Service in  (a) England and Wales and  (b) Gloucestershire in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Funding for the years in question to youth offending teams by the Youth Justice Board, police and probation is contained in the following tables. The YJB funding figures relate to core grant only and do not include additional grants to support effective practice and for programmes such as ISSP.
	
		
			  YOT funding for England and Wales 
			   Youth Justice Board  Police  Probation 
			 2002-03 46,723,227 19,162,717 16,209,958 
			 2003-04 47,542,333 20,948,650 17,187,426 
			 2004-05 48,730,892 22,097,262 17,566,056 
			 2005-06 50,358,959 23,382,337 17,533,136 
			 2006-07 (1)43,251,232 23,130,989 17,969,258 
		
	
	
		
			  YOT funding for Gloucestershire 
			   Youth Justice Board  Police  Probation 
			 2002-03 404,941 213,000 124,000 
			 2003-04 413,381 268,205 131,313 
			 2004-05 (1)349,742 270,225 132,000 
			 2005-06 (1)369,008 273,092 133,000 
			 2006-07 (1)379,379 278,682 133,500 
			 (1) These figures do not include the ring-fenced funding within the Young People Substance Misuse Partnership grant (from 2004-05).

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Departments: Energy

John Spellar: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what  (a) instructions are issued to (i) staff in the House of Commons and (ii) hon. Members and  (b) technical procedures are in place to shut down computers at night.

Nick Harvey: The new online induction course to the Parliamentary Network, which all new users (Members, their staff and staff of the House) must complete, includes guidance on shutting down personal computers each day. In addition to this, all computers have Microsoft power saving settings enabled; these also reduce energy consumption.
	While it is possible to switch off computers centrally each night, at present there are no plans to do so since unsaved work could be lost, and staff and Members working late could be seriously inconvenienced. These arrangements are kept under review.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Departments: Internet

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development for which Government websites he is responsible; how many visitors each received in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the cost  (a) was of establishing and  (b) has been of maintaining each site.

Gareth Thomas: DFID currently has 48 sites that receive departmental funding. Under the transformational Government website rationalisation strategy we are in the process of reducing this number. Details of costs and the number of visitors for four of the main DFID funded sites are given in the following table. Compiling visitor and cost information for all 48 sites could be done only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Website  Average visitors per month  Cost of establishing the site  Annual cost of maintaining the site 
			   Date  Number  Date  ()  Date  () 
			 DFID main site www.dfid.qov.uk 2006 60,000 Not available for original site set up over 10 years ago 2007 101,312 
			  January to April 2007 70,000 Not available for original site set up over 10 years ago   
			
			 Developments Magazine www.developments.org.uk June 2006 to April 2007 11,000 Not available 2007 12,000 
			 Research for Development portal www.research4development.info April 2006 to March 2007 3,100 2005 293,464 2006 366,067 
			  2007 460,493 
			 AIDSPortal www.aidsportal.org May 2006 to April 2007 4,000 June 2004 to October 2006 355,000 2007 27,500

Iraq: Asylum

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what assistance the UK is providing to  (a) Syria and  (b) Jordan for refugees who have fled sectarian violence in Iraq; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps the Government are taking to protect refugees who have fled sectarian violence in Iraq.

Hilary Benn: We are in close touch with our partners and agencies about the situation regarding displaced Iraqis inside Iraq and in the region.
	In January, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) launched a $60 million appeal to address the influx of refugees into Iraq's neighbouring countries and the plight of displaced people inside Iraq (this is almost fully funded). The money will go towards the provision of basic services and protection for internally displaced Iraqis and refugees, registration, and needs assessments. DFID has contributed 1.5 million to this appeal, part of 310 million that we have spent on humanitarian assistance in 2007.
	Inside Iraq, our support is providing urgently needed medical supplies, improved health facilities and restoring water and sanitation infrastructure.
	In April, an international UNHCR conference in Geneva was successful in drawing international attention to the plight of the displaced Iraqis inside Iraq and in the region, and recognising the burden this places on host communities and countries. The main outcome of the conference was the Government of Iraq's commitment to take the lead in providing support and security for its citizens, including for those who have fled the country. The conference also agreed a new UN strategic framework for humanitarian action in Iraq, which will coordinate UN action in support of the Iraqi Government's efforts.

Iraq: Overseas Aid

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what proportion of Government assistance to internally displaced people in Iraq is channelled through  (a) international NGOs,  (b) Iraqi NGOs,  (c) the Iraqi Government and  (d) UK military forces;
	(2)  what Government funding and resources for internally displaced people in Iraq  (a) was allocated in each year since 2001 and  (b) will be provided in each of the next three years.

Hilary Benn: DFID's assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Iraq is currently channelled through internationally mandated organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). We are currently not funding any iternational NGOs, the Iraqi Government or UK military forces.
	In terms of DFID assistance to IDPs, we have made the following disbursements since 2001:
	
		
			   ICRC  UNHCR  IOM 
			 2001 3,500,000   
			 2002 2,000,000   
			 2003 19,000,000 1,750,000  
			 2004
			 2005 10,000,000   
			 2006 4,000,000   
			 2007 7,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 
			 
			 Total 45,500,000 3,250,000 1,000,000 
		
	
	We have not yet allocated our resources for the next three years; however, we will continue to follow the IDP situation closely and will work with international partners to respond to identified need.

JUSTICE

Freedom of Information

Mike Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, pursuant to the answer of 2 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1726W, what steps she is taking to reduce the number of Freedom of Information requests awaiting allocation to case officers at the Information Commissioner's office; and if she will make a statement.

Vera Baird: The Information Commissioner is an independent body created by statute. On 26 October 2006, the Commissioner laid before Parliament a report describing his progress in eliminating the freedom of information case backlog and setting out his future plans. In April 2007, he published his Corporate Plan 2007-10, which sets out his strategy for the next three years.

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

Women and Work Commission

Nick Brown: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what progress has been made on the Government Action Plan: Implementing the Women and Work Commission recommendations; and if she will make a statement.

Meg Munn: On 2 April we launched a report setting out the comprehensive programme of action being taken forward by Government to reduce the gender pay and opportunities gap one year on from the Women and Work Commission's recommendations. This included: details of a 500,000 fund to create more quality part-time work; and the development of an Equality Check Tool to allow employers to see where they could improve their practices in relation to gender equality issues. I will also continue to chair a project board of Whitehall officials to drive forward the women's economic participation agenda.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Asthma

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many asthma-related emergency admissions were recorded in each health trust area in each of the last three years.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Departments: Billing

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2007,  Official Report, column 890-1W, on Departments: billing, for what reason some Northern Ireland Departments keep a record of discounts offered and received on invoices while others do not; and what steps he has taken to standardise the way in which  (a) payments are processed,  (b) financial returns are made and audited and  (c) financial records are kept by Departments.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Farmers: Incomes

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effect of the 13.3 per cent. reduction in incomes from farming in 2006.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Fire Services: Manpower

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many members of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service were employed in each fire district in Northern Ireland in each of the last six years, broken down by grade.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Fire Services: Pay

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage change in pay each grade of member of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service received in each of the last six years.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Groomsport School

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will place in the Library a copy of the action plan for the closure of Groomsport primary school.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Groomsport School

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what  (a) guidance and  (b) assistance (i) has been and (ii) is planned to be provided by his Department to help Groomsport primary school staff prepare for the closure of the school.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Groomsport School

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the programme for the closure of Groomsport Primary School.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Health: Research

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what health research programmes received funding from his Department in each of the last six years; how much funding was received in each case; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Home Information Packs

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what  (a) discussions and  (b) correspondence he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the introduction of home information packs in Northern Ireland.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Hospices: Finance

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding was allocated by his Department to hospices in Northern Ireland in each of the last six years, broken down by hospice.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

New Businesses

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many new businesses have opened in Northern Ireland in each year since 1997.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Northern Ireland Executive: Telephone Services

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what revenue was generated from telephone helplines connected to Northern Ireland Government Departments and Agencies in each of the last six years, broken down by helpline.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Oil

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many oil spills there were at  (a) residential and  (b) commercial premises in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Olympic Games: Greater London

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 30 April 2007,  Official Report, column 1446W, on Olympic Games: Greater London, which organisations have representatives sitting on the Olympic NI Task Force; and what recommendations the task force has made  (a) to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and  (b) to the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Olympic Games: Greater London

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what initiatives have been identified by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in discussions with the Olympic NI Task Force, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic games as being suitable Olympic projects for Northern Ireland; and what assessment he has made of the potential benefit of these initiatives to Northern Ireland.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Recycling: Industrial Wastes

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he is taking to encourage recycling amongst the business community in Northern Ireland.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Shipbuilding

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps the Government are taking to assist the Northern Irish shipbuilding industry.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

Tourism

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps the Government are taking to encourage the growth of tourism in Northern Ireland.

Peter Hain: This matter is now the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Administration.

SCOTLAND

Departments: Paper

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what percentage of paper used  (a) for photocopying and  (b) in printed publications by his Office was from recycled sources in each of the last three years.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office participates in a contract, let by the Scottish Executive, which allows for the purchase of photocopy paper from recycled sources. All areas with purchasing authority have been advised to procure recycled paper for the purpose of photocopying.
	The Office obtains printed publications from a variety of sources. Figures are not held centrally of the percentage of recycled paper used in printed publications. However, the Office routinely requires that printers source paper that has a minimum of 75 per cent. recycled content.

Devolution

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he received requests from the  (a) Scottish Parliament and  (b) Scottish Executive for the transfer of reserved matters from Westminster to Holyrood in each year since 2002; and if he will make a statement.

David Cairns: Section 30(2) of the Scotland Act provides a mechanism whereby Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998 can be modified by an Order in Council, subject to the agreement of both the UK and Scottish Parliaments. It allows the boundaries of the Scottish Parliament's legislative competence to be adjusted by removing existing reservations, adding new ones or updating existing ones. Scotland's settlement was always intended to have scope for flexibility and section 30(2) provides for that. The following Section 30(2) Orders have been made since 2002:
	2002/1629 (The Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedule 5) Order 2002)
	2004/3392 (The Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedule 5) Order 2004)
	2005/865 (The Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedule 5) Order 2005)
	2005/866 (The Scotland Act 1998 (Modifications of Schedule 5) Order 2005)

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Administered Incentive Pricing

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  when he expects the spectrum on which Administered Incentive Pricing is charged to change usage;
	(2)  what revenues he expects to be raised from the charging of Administered Incentive Pricing on spectrum  (a) in 2007 and  (b) in each of the next five years, broken down by sector; and what the revenues were from each sector in 2006.

Margaret Hodge: The matter raised is the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. Accordingly, I have asked the Chief Executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the Chief Executive's letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Departments: ICT

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the  (a) originally estimated,  (b) most recently estimated and  (c) outturn cost was of each of the five largest information technology contracts agreed by his Department with outside suppliers in the last five years as referred to in the answer of 16 June 2006,  Official Report, columns 1489-90W, on Information Technology.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department has one main Information Technology contract. This is a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Agreement awarded to Fujitsu Services which has been in place for more than five years. In 2005 the Department awarded a Competed Services Framework Arrangement to six suppliers to enable an element of competition for IT projects. A small number of lower value IT contracts (less than 500,000) have been awarded through this arrangement. The largest project awarded outside of the PFI Agreement during 2006-07 is shown as follows.
	
		
			  Construction Industry Statistics Service 
			million 
			 Original estimate 1.6 
			 Contracted cost 1.4

Post Offices

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of whether the practice of establishing post offices in major retail outlets is being implemented in compliance with the rule which disallows the establishment of sub-post offices within one mile of another post office outlet;
	(2)  if he will assess the merits of providing compensation to any sub-post office in circumstances where its business is adversely affected by the establishment of post office branches in nearby major retail outlets.

Jim Fitzpatrick: These are operational matters for Post Office Ltd. Alan Cook the Managing Director has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Written Questions

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the reason was for the time taken to respond to the Question answered on 7 November 2006,  Official Report, column 1092W, on Mr. David Mills, tabled by the hon. Member for Devizes on 27 February 2006.

Kim Howells: I have been asked to reply.
	Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials wished to look carefully and fully into all the background on the original question, which covered a wide range of cross cutting issues including UN and EU sanctions, Iran and commercial matters. The FCO regrets the amount of time this took.

TRANSPORT

Aviation: Exhaust Emissions

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how his Department plans to respond to the advice from the Air Quality Expert Group's recently published report Air Quality and Climate Change: A UK Perspective that reversal of the growing trend for long-distance commuting and the growth in air travel would be highly beneficial for both local air quality and the global atmosphere.

Gillian Merron: The Department has noted this report which covers a wide range of issues. The Department's transport strategy as outlined in The Future of Transport White Paper (DfT 2004), The Future of Air Transport White Paper (DfT 2003) and subsequent Progress Report (DfT 2006), sets out a sustainable approach to transport issues to achieve a modern, efficient and sustainable transport system which balances the increasing demand for travel against our goals of protecting the environment and improving the quality of life for everyone. The Department will continue to reflect this balance, including that between air quality and climate change, when developing policy in the future.

Biofuels: Garages and Petrol Stations

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made in placing biofuel pumps in petrol station forecourts.

Stephen Ladyman: Biofuels are available in low blends at well over 100 filling stations in the UK. In this form, they do not need special pumps or storage facilities: they are dispensed via standard petrol and diesel pumps, and motorists will not generally be aware that the fuel they are buying contains a small amount of biofuel. By 2010, we expect that the Government's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) will mean that the great majority of petrol and diesel sold in the UK will contain up to 5 per cent. biofuel.
	Biofuels can also be used in high blends (for example, ethanol can be blended into petrol at a mixture of up to 85 per cent.). This needs vehicle modifications and separate refuelling pumps. A number of vehicles are on sale which can run on these blends, and the Government are supporting these through various fiscal incentives. This Department has also grant-funded the installation of 14 bioethanol E85 pumps. The location of these pumps can be found via:
	http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/fleet/Vehicles/Alternativefuels/Fundingforalternativerefuellingstations/

Cycling: Highway Code

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what account is taken in the revised Highway Code of the statement in the Response to Consultation Report of March 2007 that road users other than cyclists need to be made aware that the choice to use cycle facilities remains with the cyclist and there is no law compelling their use.

Stephen Ladyman: The Highway Code states that where possible cyclists should use cycle lanes. This means that while they are encouraged to do so, they are not compelled. The difference between legal requirements and advisory rules is made clear in the introduction to the code.
	In response to the views raised by respondents to the consultation, the rules for cyclists were amended. Some 30 other rules throughout the Highway Code were revised to add emphasis to the need for consideration of cyclists by other road users.
	The Highway Code as a whole draws more attention to vulnerable road users, including cyclists, than previous versions. It also specifically instructs drivers to pay attention to bus and cycle lanes, as cyclists may be pulling out of them, or using roads alongside.

Departments: Disciplinary Proceedings

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many grievance procedures have been initiated in his Department in the last 12 months.

Gillian Merron: The number of grievance procedures initiated in the Department for Transport in the last year has been 147.
	The figure is a significant increase on previous years. There are several reasons for this including:
	Highways Agency figures are now included which were previously not collected centrally;
	The Government Car Despatch and despatch Agency became part of the Department in November 2005;
	Staff have an increased awareness of the procedures available to them;
	Managers are encouraged to be pro-active and deal with issues as they occur;
	In Department for Transport (Central), the procedures for disputing annual performance reports was changed to include using the Department's grievance procedure with the aim of resolving such disputes within a fixed timescale.

Departments: Intimidation

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many complaints of bullying have been investigated in his Department in the last 12 months; and how many complaints have been upheld.

Gillian Merron: The number of complaints of bullying investigated in the Department for Transport in the last 12 months was 39. Of these, seven cases were upheld and a further 14 are still being investigated.
	The Department has in place arrangements for informing all staff about policies on ensuring that the work environment is free from harassment or bullying.

Departments: Sexual Harassment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many complaints of sexual harassment have been investigated in his Department in the last 12 months; and how many complaints have been upheld.

Gillian Merron: The number of complaints of sexual harassment investigated in the Department for Transport in the last 12 months was five. Of these four cases are still being investigated.
	The Department has in place arrangements for informing all staff about policies on ensuring that the work environment is free from harassment and bullying.

Driving: Licensing

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many people tried to obtain driving licences fraudulently in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many cases of driving licence application fraud the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency detected in each of the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: Statistics are not available on the number of people who tried to obtain driving licences fraudulently over the last five years. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) reports suspect applications to the police and other appropriate authorities for investigation. Statistics recording the numbers of suspect applications for driving licences detected by DVLA have been kept since July 2005. Between July 2005 and March 2006, a total of 1,484 suspect applications were detected. Between April 2006 and March 2007, a total of 2,463 suspect applications were detected. These applications were deemed to be suspect because of concern over the authenticity of the supporting identity documents or the accuracy of declarations made on the application form.

Driving: Licensing

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many cases of identity fraud the  (a) Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and  (b) Driving Standards Agency investigated in each of the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) operates stringent identity checking procedures so that driving licences are granted only after it is satisfied with the evidence of identity supplied.
	DVLA does not itself investigate suspected cases of identity fraud but refers to the appropriate authorities any cases where there appears to be a fraudulent application to obtain a driving licence. Statistics recording the numbers of suspect applications for driving licences detected by DVLA have been kept since July 2005. Between July 2005 and March 2006, a total of 1,484 suspect applications were detected. Between April 2006 and March 2007, a total of 2,463 suspect applications were detected.
	The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) takes allegations of impersonation of driving test candidates extremely seriously and has established a dedicated team to protect the integrity of its processes. DSA investigates incidents of impersonation at driving test that are both reported to it and those that the Agency detects through proactive investigation.
	Since 2004, with co-operation from the police, DSA investigations into driving test impersonations have resulted in the arrest of 293 people in connection with a total of 729 offences.

Driving: Licensing

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many foreign nationals  (a) applied for and  (b) were granted UK driving licences in each of the last 10 years.

Stephen Ladyman: The information requested is not available. Statistics relating to the nationality of applicants for driving licences are not kept.

Fuels: Carbon

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions his Department has had with industry on reducing carbon levels in transportation fuels.

Stephen Ladyman: The Government have announced that, as a way of reducing the lifecycle carbon impact of transport fuels, it will introduce a Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) in April 2008. The RTFO has been developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from the different industry sectors which will be affected by it. Copies of the Government's consultation document on the RTFO are available in the House Libraries and also via:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/roads/rtfo

Heathrow Airport

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of air transport movements which would take place at Heathrow if a third runway is built and mixed mode is introduced;
	(2)  whether the estimate of 720,000 air transport movements each year at Heathrow if a third runway is built referred to in the Air Transport White Paper Progress Report 2006 includes an assumption that mixed mode will be introduced.

Gillian Merron: As announced in the Future of Air Transport White Paper, the Government are carrying out a study on the future development of Heathrow. This is assessing the air quality and noise impacts, in particular, of both a possible third runway and of using the existing runways in mixed mode operations. The Government intend to consult on its findings later in 2007.
	The December 2006 Progress Report on the Future of Air Transport White Paper indicated that mixed mode operations on the existing two runways at Heathrow could provide up to 15 per cent. more air traffic movements than the current annual limit of 480,000. It also said that a third runway could eventually support up to 720,000 movements but this does not assume the use of mixed mode operations on the existing two runways.

Heathrow Airport

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the forthcoming consultation into mixed-mode, the Cranford Agreement, westerly preference, a third runway and a sixth terminal at Heathrow will also include consultation on the new flight paths which would be required if a third runway went ahead.

Gillian Merron: holding answer 9 May 2007
	The December 2006 Progress Report on the Future of Air Transport White Paper indicated that the Government would consult in 2007 on the future development of Heathrow. The consultation will present the results of the Government's study to assess the air quality and noise impacts, in particular, of both a possible third runway and of using the existing runways in mixed mode operations.
	The consultation will also describe the flight paths that have been assumed for this study. However, any changes to air routes would not take place without first being subject to separate consultation under the Civil Aviation Authority's Airspace Change Process.

Heathrow Airport: Exhaust Emissions

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he expects the new emissions cost assessment designed to inform decisions on major increases in aviation capacity as outlined in the recent Progress Report on the Aviation White Paper to apply to proposals  (a) to introduce mixed mode and  (b) to construct a sixth terminal or a third runway at Heathrow; who is involved in developing this emissions cost assessment; and what level of consultation there will be in developing the process.

Gillian Merron: We intend to launch a full public consultation on the development of an emissions cost assessment for the aviation sector in the first half of 2007. The consultation proposals are being developed by the Department in liaison with other Government Departments.

Motor Vehicles: Registration

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency achieved its target of halving the estimated number of unregistered vehicles in the UK by 2007.

Stephen Ladyman: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has a target to reduce by 31 January 2007 the number of persistent vehicle excise duty evaders by 50 per cent. from the baseline figure from June 2002. Work to assess whether this target has been met will commence in July with the results to follow later in the year.
	Many of these vehicles are likely to be incorrectly registered. However, there is no target specifically to halve the number of unregistered vehicles by 2007.

Railway Stations: Access

Anne Moffat: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many railway stations will receive funding from the Access for All scheme.

Tom Harris: We have announced 92 stations in England and Wales that we expect Network Rail to improve up to 2011 and are developing the list of stations that will be included in the programme between 2012 and 2015.
	Work at more than 500 other stations has been approved up to March 2008 under the Access for All Small Schemes programme. There will be further rounds of bidding each year until at least 2015.

Railways: Overcrowding

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which five train services had the highest number of passengers in excess of capacity levels in each of the 10 largest cities in the UK in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Tom Harris: The Department only has access to data covering Passengers in Excess of Capacity (PIXC), which applies to weekday commuter trains arriving in London between 07:00 and 09:59 and those departing London between 16:00 and 18:59.
	The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) publishes PIXC figures in its National Rail Trends publication; the most recent version covering 2005 was published on 5 July 2006 and is available in the Library of the House.

Railways: Shropshire

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has made to help develop rail infrastructure in Shropshire on the line between Wolverhampton and Central Wales.

Tom Harris: Network Rail plans to complete line speed improvements between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury to achieve a 90 mph line speed in 2008-09. It is also considering signalling and track changes to permit direct access to platform 3 of Shrewsbury station from the Craven Arms direction. The Department's long term rail strategy, to be published in the summer, will include our high level output specification for the passenger railway. Network Rail's detailed plans will then be updated in its Strategic Business Plan to be published in October 2007.

Railways: Wales

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with his Welsh counterpart on improvements to the Cambrian line between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth.

Tom Harris: Our respective officials have discussed train operating performance on the Cambrian line; potential funding by the Welsh Assembly Government of an hourly train service on the route between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth including the necessary improvements to infrastructure; and improvements to Machynlleth Train Maintenance Depot.

Road Signs

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the operating costs were of  (a) electronic messaging signs and  (b) electronic variable messaging signs in each of the last 10 years.

Stephen Ladyman: Operating costs for both electronic message signs and electronic variable messaging signs on the Highways Agency network are not separately identifiable. They are maintained as an integral part of traffic technology systems. Data are available for the period 2001-02 to 2006-07 in the following table.
	
		
			   Cost ( million) 
			 2001-02 23 
			 2002-03 40 
			 2003-04 29 
			 2004-05 20 
			 2005-06 32 
			 2006-07 32 
		
	
	The costs in the table are for maintaining all traffic technology, including electronic messaging signs, but excluding energy and technology renewal scheme costs.

TREASURY

Education for All

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress he expects to make on the Education for All initiative in 2007; and what discussions he has had with international finance ministers on this issue.

Gordon Brown: On 2 May the UK co-convened an international conference with the European Commission and World Bank. From the UK's overall 8.5 billion pledge, we announced a long term commitment of 500 million to support 10-year education plans in Tanzania and Ethiopia. We welcomed the strong progress from African countrieswith 15 countries having completed 10-year plans and 13 of these endorsed. The UK will continue to work with other donors to ensure the necessary funds for education are committed.

Fiscal Policy

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the effect of his fiscal policy on the UK economy; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: In the last decade, the introduction of strict fiscal rules and clear objectives for fiscal policy have put the public finances on a more sound and sustainable footing than in previous economic cycles.
	This responsible management of public finances, in line with the Government's objectives, has enabled fiscal policy to effectively support monetary policy over the current cycle.
	The UK's macro-economic policy framework continues to deliver unprecedented growth and stability. GDP in the UK has now expanded for 59 consecutive quarters, the longest unbroken expansion since quarterly National Accounts data began.
	Over the past 10 years, the UK has enjoyed more stability in terms of GDP growth and inflation than in any decade since the war.

Employment

Si�n James: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on progress towards his aim to achieve full employment.

John Healey: The Government's measures to increase employment build on a platform of macro-economic stability and economic growth, and include continued investment in the new deal, investment in skills and training, welfare reform to help people move from inactivity to work, and the national minimum wage and tax credits to make work pay. Employment is at record levels, with over 2.5 million more people in work than in 1997, and the highest employment rate of the G7 economies.

Employment

Wayne David: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent steps he has taken to achieve the goal of full employment; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The Government's measures to increase employment build on a platform of macro-economic stability and economic growth, and include continued investment in the new deal, investment in skills and training, welfare reform to help people move from inactivity to work, and the national minimum wage and tax credits to make work pay. Employment is at record levels, with over 2.5 million more people in work than in 1997, and the highest employment rate of the G7 economies.

Millennium Development Goals

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with international counterparts on resources for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Edward Balls: Recent OECD figures show that global ODA in 2006 was up by $20 billion, an increase of 25 per cent. in real terms since 2004. The UK is working hard with international partners to ensure that global ODA stays on track for our goal of providing an extra $50 billion by 2010, and to ensure an adequate proportion goes to basic services to help meet the MDGs.
	Together with international partners, the Chancellor recently launched the International Finance Facility for Immunisation, which will quickly release $4 billion of development aid to support essential vaccination programmes. And in February the G7 endorsed a pilot Advanced Market Commitment, which will provide $1.5 billion to accelerate the development of a pneomococcus vaccine. To accelerate progress towards the Education MDGs, I co-convened a high level international conference, together with the World Bank and European Commission, to renew the political commitment needed to deliver more aid for education.
	In February the G7 stated that they expect spending on Aid for Trade to increase to $4 billion.
	But we must do more. The Chancellor will be raising the need for countries to deliver on their ODA commitments, in order to meet the MDGs, at the next G8 Finance Ministers in Potsdam.

New Deal

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects of the new deal on the economy; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: Since 1998, the new deal has helped over 1.6 million people to find jobs, and contributed to a fall in the number of young people claiming jobseeker's allowance for more than six months from over 174,000 in April 1997 to 53,800 in February 2007. Independent research has shown the new deal for young people's positive impact on the economy, with estimated benefits to the economy of up to 500 million a year.

Parenting

Graham Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward a public service agreement on early intervention with parents and children.

Edward Balls: The performance management framework in the CSR07 period will include a focused set of public service agreements (PSAs) which, taken together, will articulate Government's highest-priority outcomes for the spending period and will typically span several departments.
	PSAs will sit alongside a new, comprehensive set of strategic objectives for each department.
	All public service agreements and each department's strategic objectives will be published together at the comprehensive spending review.
	The Government are committed to delivering services for families which focus on prevention and early intervention, as set out in the Every child matters programme and most recently confirmed in the children and young people's policy review Aiming high for children: supporting families (March 2007), published jointly by the Treasury and DfES.

Budgets

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on  (a) the expected impact of the 2007 Budget and  (b) the combined impact of the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 Budgets' measures on (i) women, (ii) men and (iii) families with children.

Stephen Timms: As a result of personal tax and benefit measures announced in Budget 2007, by April 2009 households will be, on average, 100 per year better off; households with children will be, on average 200 per year better off and households with children in the poorest fifth of the population will be, on average, 350 better off.
	As a result of personal tax and benefit measures introduced since 1997, by April 2009, in real terms, households will be, on average, 1,150 a year better off, households with children will be, on average, 1,800 a year better off and households with children in the poorest fifth of the population will be, on average, 4,000 a year better off.

Budgets: Publications

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of producing the Budget summary leaflet was in each year since 1997; and how much was accounted for by  (a) design and commissioning,  (b) printing and  (c) distribution.

John Healey: In Budget 2002, Ministers made a commitment that the Government inform households of all tax and spending decisions made in the Budget. HMT took the following steps to honour this commitment:
	release of documents on the public website immediately after the Chancellor's speech; and
	publication of the summary leaflet to organisations which serve as distributors of public information.
	The following table shows the cost of producing the Budget summary leaflet in each year since 2003. Information in relation to the years prior to 2002-03 could only be provided at disproportionate cost due to a change in the Treasury's accounting system in that year.
	
		
			   
			   Printing  Distribution  Total 
			 2007 60,000 65,000 125,000 
			 2006 69,000 82,000 151,000 
			 2005 51,000 86,000 136,000 
			 2004 55,000 108,000 163,000 
			 2003 77,000 136,000 214,000 
			  Notes: 1. Please note that all figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand and hence may not add to total. 2. Figures include VAT where applied. 
		
	
	There were no external costs associated with design and commissioning of the summary leaflet as these were done internally.

Debts

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the average levels of household indebtedness in the UK in comparison to other European countries.

Edward Balls: I refer the Gentleman to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) on the Floor of the House earlier today.

Economic and Monetary Union

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to update the third outline National Changeover Plan, published in 2003.

Edward Balls: The third Outline National Changeover Plan (oNCP3) provides a comprehensive statement of how the Government would manage a euro changeover in the UK. This remains the basis for any future euro changeover and there are no plans to update the oNCP3 at this time.

Economic and Monetary Union

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of preparations for the possibility of joining the European single currency since 1997.

Edward Balls: I refer the hon. Member to the answer to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr. Hayes) of 14 November 2005,  Official Report, column 880W.

Economic and Monetary Union

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who the members are of the Standing Committee on Euro Preparations; how many times the Committee met in each of the last five years; what the annual administration cost of the Committee was in each of those years; how many civil servants are seconded to the Committee on a  (a) full-time and  (b) part-time basis; and what the grade is of each of those civil servants.

Edward Balls: Details of the meetings of the Chancellor's Standing Committee on Euro Preparations, including attendance and minutes of the meetings, are available on the Treasury's euro website (www.euro.gov.uk). The members of the Committee are:
	Chancellor of the Exchequer (Chair),
	Economic Secretary to the Treasury,
	Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,
	Secretary of State for Wales,
	Secretary of State for Scotland,
	Secretary of State for Trade and Industry,
	Chair of Cross Party Group on Euro Preparations,
	Head of the Home Civil Service,
	General Secretary of Trades Union Congress,
	Vice-Chair of Local Government Association,
	Chief Executive of National Council for Voluntary Organizations,
	Chief Executive of Citizens Advice,
	Chair of Yorkshire Forward (representing the RDAs),
	Director General of the Confederation of British Industry,
	Governor of Bank of England,
	Chairman of Financial Services Authority,
	President of British Bankers' Association,
	President of British Chambers of Commerce,
	Chairman of British Retail Consortium.
	There are no civil servants seconded to the Committee on either a full or part time basis. Civil servants in the Treasury's Euro Preparations Unit provide support for Committee meetings as required. The costs of the Euro Preparations Unit are met from within departmental expenditure limits.

Environmental Transformation Fund

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether he plans a public consultation on the Environmental Transformation Fund;
	(2)  from which Department's budget the Environmental Transformation Fund will be allocated;
	(3)  if he will make a statement on the remit of the Environmental Transformation Fund.

John Healey: As announced alongside the publication of the UK's National Allocation Plan for EU ETS Phase Two, a new Environmental Transformation Fund will be established to support renewable energy, biofuels and other non-nuclear, low-carbon technologies including carbon capture and storage. Details will be announced in the 2007 comprehensive spending review.
	Budget 2007 announced that in the 2007 CSR, the Government will create a new international window of the Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF) with 800 million of official development assistance (ODA)to support development and poverty reduction through environmental protection, and help developing countries respond to climate change. Budget 2007 also announced that the Secretary of State for International Development will allocate 50 million from the international window of the UK's Environmental Transformation Fund to support proposals that have been made by ten Congo forest countries to help them protect the Congo Basin's forests and people.

Financial Services: EC Action

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether there are written protocols determining the respective roles of the Financial Services Authority and his Department when negotiating with the EU Commission on financial services matters.

Edward Balls: holding answer 9 May 2007
	The Government welcome the recent NAO report into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Financial Services Authority has used its resources, when discharging its statutory functions. I told the high level group meeting on 30 April that the Government are proposing to publish an MoU setting out the respective roles and responsibilities of each organisation in this area.

Fiscal Rules

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of his fiscal rules on the economy.

John Healey: In the last decade, the introduction of strict fiscal rules and clear objectives for fiscal policy have put the public finances on a more sound and sustainable footing than in previous economic cycles.
	This responsible management of public finances, in line with the Government's objectives, has enabled fiscal policy to effectively support monetary policy over the current cycle.
	The UK's macro-economic policy framework continues to deliver unprecedented growth and stability. GDP in the UK has now expanded for 59 consecutive quarters, the longest unbroken expansion since quarterly National Accounts data began.
	Over the past 10 years, the UK has enjoyed more stability in terms of GDP growth and inflation than in any decade since the war.

Gift Aid: Bexley

David Evennett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many voluntary groups were in receipt of Gift Aid in the London borough of Bexley in each of the last three years.

Stephen Timms: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) do not separately identify Gift Aid claims by types of organisations or by countries, regions or local authorities of the UK.
	Amounts of tax repaid to charities in the UK on donations under Gift Aid are published in Table 10.1 on the HMRC website at: www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/charities/menu.htm. In 2006-07 a total of 828 million was repaid to UK charities under Gift Aid.

Market in Financial Instruments Directive

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made in determining the boundaries between the home state regulator and the host regulator of branches established under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: holding answer 9 May 2007
	 Discussions are still ongoing between the Commission and the relevant member state authorities about the boundary between home and host authority regulators for the regulation of branches.

Pension Funds

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will visit Essex to discuss the effect of changes made to dividend payments to pension funds.

Edward Balls: In Essex and across the country, as a result of the tough and necessary decisions taken by this Government since 1997, including on dividend tax credits, businesses and pension funds have benefited from a decade of stability, with low inflation, low interest rates and rising business investment.

Pension Funds

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total assets were of pension funds in the UK in each of the last five years.

Edward Balls: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. member for Vale of Clwyd (Chris Ruane) on 1 May 2007,  Official Report, column. 1626W.

Tax Credits

Boris Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the take-up of working tax credit in 2005-06; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: The latest figures show that in 2004-05 82 per cent. of working tax credit entitlement has been claimed.

Taxation: Fuels

Greg Knight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax revenue was raised through the sale of petrol and diesel in  (a) 2003-04,  (b) 2004-05 and  (c) 2006-07.

John Healey: The total amount of tax revenue on the sale of petrol and diesel is not available. The total excise duty raised on the quantities of these products released for consumption is published in Table 3 of the Hydrocarbon Oils Bulletin. This can be found at:
	http://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=bulloil
	HM Customs and Revenue do not collect data on the amount of VAT paid on individual goods and services.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Child Support

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of non-resident parents were  (a) nil compliant and  (b) partially compliant with their child support payments in each month since the Child Support Agency introduced its operational improvement plan.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 10 May 2007:
	In reply to your parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of non-resident parents were  (a) nil compliant and  (b) partially compliant with their child support payments in each month since the Child Support Agency introduced its operational improvement plan.
	The Agency introduced its Operational Improvement Plan in March 2006.
	The information requested is provided in the attached table, in which nil and partially compliant cases are expressed as a proportion of all cases with an assessment or a calculation.
	It should be noted that the proportion of cases in which maintenance was due that have a positive maintenance outcome has increased from 59% to 61% over the same period, resulting in an extra 33,000 children benefiting either from maintenance direct arrangements or from money received via the Agency's collection service
	
		
			  The volumes and proportions of nil and partially compliant cases relative to all cases with a positive liability, between March 2006 and December 2006, measured over the three month periods ending in the months shown 
			   Nil compliant  Partial compliant 
			  Quarter ending:  Volume  Proportion (%)  Volume  Proportion (%) 
			 March 2006 148,883 32 129,028 27 
			 April 2006 147,126 31 136,193 29 
			 May 2006 145,889 31 132,370 28 
			 Jun e 2006 145,474 31 132,818 28 
			 July 2006 144,175 30 136,895 29 
			 August 2006 145,698 30 134,808 28 
			 September 2006 150,168 31 136,928 28 
			 October 2006 153,907 32 136,908 28 
			 November 2006 158,453 32 136,192 28 
			 December 2006 162,129 33 141,967 29 
			 January 2007 165,162 33 136,505 27 
			 February2007 166,567 33 139,047 28 
			 March 2007 170,579 34 142,359 28 
			  Notes: 1. A case is classified as nil compliant at the end of a three month period if it was open and classed as a collection service case at the end of the period, and within the period money was charged on the case but no money was collected via the collection service. 2. A case is classified as partially compliant at the end of a three month period if it was open and classed as a collection service case at the end of the period, and within the period money was charged on the case and some, but not all, of the money charged was collected via the collection service. 3. Compliance is calculated over three month periods ending in the months shown. 4. New scheme cases being processed clerically are excluded from the table. 5. Volumes are rounded to the nearest one hundred.

Personal Income

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library the 10 band income distribution data used to produce the income distribution for the total population graphs in households below average income for each year of the Family Resources Survey; and if he will also provide the corresponding datasets for  (a) children,  (b) working age adults and  (c) pensioner sub-groups.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 16 April 2007
	The information requested is not available for 2005-06 as the Households Below Average Income 2005-06 release is currently being revised. The new release will be available from mid-May. The data requested will be placed in the Library after the new release is published.
	The Secretary of State made a written statement to Parliament on 23 April 2007,  Official  Report, column 20WS, on why the statistics are being revised.

Poverty: Children

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to engage parents, local authorities and private sector organisations in discussions on child poverty, as proposed in the Working for Children Report published by his Department.

Jim Murphy: In developing our employment programs and formulating our strategy for reducing child poverty, the Department for Work and Pensions has worked closely with a range of partners. As stated in the Working for Children report, it is important that we continue to do so. In addition to regular ministerial meetings with stakeholders, current and ongoing engagement takes places through: six-monthly meetings between officials and the largest of the child poverty stakeholder groups including, the Child Poverty Action Group, One Parent Families, Save the Children, Barnardo's and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; the Child Poverty Accord, an agreement between The Local Government Association and Central Government DepartmentsDWP (and its Agencies), Department for Education and Skills, HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customsto work together to tackle child poverty. The Accord partners will continue to work with local authorities to develop anti-poverty strategies; the City Strategy which will play a significant role in increasing local employment rates, ensuring those most disadvantaged in the labour market can receive the help and guidance they need. It will bring together the public, private and voluntary sectors into a concerted local programme to improve the way support for individual jobless people is co-ordinated and delivered on the ground.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 24 April 2007,  Official Report, column 1158W, on social security benefit: fraud, how the Voice Risk Analysis software which his Department intends to test differs from a lie detector test.

James Plaskitt: The Voice Risk Analysis software which the Department intends to test is a risk assessment process. It analyses micro physiological changes to a caller's voice and combines this analysis with a number of other techniques to provide an indication of the level of confidence that can be attached to answers to questions. It will not by itself be used to determine entitlement to benefit, but to identify which claims can be paid quickly or which may need further examination and supporting verification. The technique does not require the customer to be physically present. In contrast lie detectors require a customer presence and rely on measuring a range of involuntary physiological factors such as heart rate; blood pressure and respiration.

Welfare to Work

David Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what funding has been made available to pilot the recommendations contained in the Freud report;
	(2)  what plans he has to introduce pilot schemes implementing the recommendations contained in the Freud report.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 1 May 2007
	The Government's response to the Freud Report will be published in the summer.